Electron attachment to carbon dioxide clusters at very low electron energies

Abstract

Electron attachment to CO2 clusters formed by nozzle expansion was investigated in a crossed molecular-beam–electron-impact–mass spectrometer system. In addition to cluster ions previously observed at 3–4 eV electron energy we observe presently cluster ions produced at around zero electron energy. Some of these ions are likely produced by a less dissociative production mechanism allowing the probing of cluster beams with better reliability than previously.