Infrared spectroscopy of gas-phase zirconium oxide clusters

Gas-phase zirconium oxide clusters are resonantly excited using IR radiation from a free electron laser. At sufficiently large excitation fluences, clusters with a composition ZrnO2n-1 are observed to thermally emit electrons. Scanning the IR wavelength while monitoring the ion yield gives IR spectra of the clusters. For all clusters, resonances are observed between 600 and 700 cm(-1) and the spectra are almost independent of cluster size. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.