Abstract

The emission process of polyatomic species, in particular the sputtering of metal-adsorbate molecules and metal clusters, has very recently been studied to an increasing extent theoretically and experimentally ^[1-5]. However, due to the small fraction of sputttered clusters, relatively few experimental data are available at present. The interest in metal clusters arises primarily because metal clusters exhibit a strong potential as catalysts and they represent an intermediate state between atoms and metals. Often already metal clusters, build up of relatively few constituents, show features close to metals.

© 1987 Optical Society of America