Project
Photoabsorption spectroscopy and decay dynamics of small coinage metal clusters
Clusters, commonly defined as species composed of a countable number of atoms, have properties strongly dependent on size and composition. Many efforts have been undertaken in order to understand cluster properties, combining experimental and theoretical approaches. These have mainly covered ground-states properties, such as lowest-energy structures or gas-phase reactivities, leaving processes influenced by the excited-state dynamics of the clusters unexplored. Knowledge on excited states, however, is crucial for the general understanding of the physics of clusters. They play an important role in, for example, chemical reactions involving spin-forbidden transitions, decay mechanisms, or their interaction with light. This doctoral research project focuses on the experimental investigation of coinage metal cluster (Cu, Ag, Au) properties that are directly determined by the excited-state dynamics of the system, e.g., the absorption of light, the competition between different decays mechanisms and the emission of photons.