Observation of Electron Gas Cooling in Free Sodium Clusters

Abstract

Free size-selected Na+(n) (n = 16-250) clusters have been studied by femtosecond pump-probe photoelectron and photofragmentation spectroscopy. Thermal electron emission from the hot electron gas was used to monitor the energy transfer from the electronic system to lattice vibrations. The electron-phonon coupling constants determined for the different sizes can be described by the radius dependent function g(R) = (2.3 + 114 A2/R2) X 10(16) W/m3K. No strong quantum size effect was observed even for the smallest cluster size.