Production of metal atoms, clusters and complexes in pulsed discharge-excited jets : Studies via mass-resolved laser multiphoton ionization

A pulsed, high‐voltage, discharge‐excited nozzle source has been developed and exploited to study the possibility of sputtering and entraining various metal atoms into the gas expansion from the discharge electrodes. By appropriate choice of electrode materials, atomic beams of copper, silver, tin and lead have been generated and spectroscopically characterized by 2 + 1 laser multiphoton ionization with mass analysis. Sufficiently high atomic densities are achieved with this nozzle system that metal clustering also takes place, producing dimers such as Ag2, species of mixed composition such as AgSn and trimers, Ag3. In addition, chemical reactions have been observed which can be initiated in the discharge and which lead to the formation of metal–ligand complexes when suitable molecules are seeded into the carrier gas. Mass spectral evidence for two such silver complexes is presented.