Freiburg 2024 – scientific programme

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SYMC: Symposium Size Selected Metal Cluster Spectroscopies

SYMC 1: Size Selected Metal Cluster Spectroscopies

SYMC 1.3: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 14, 2024, 12:00–12:30, Paulussaal

A closer look at the electronic structure of simple metal clusters — •Bernd von Issendorff — Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg

Simple metal clusters are close to ideal few to many particle quantum systems, which can be seen as a well-defined number of electrons trapped in a harmonic potential. This leads to the well know electron shell structure discovered almost 50 years ago [1], a highly discretized density of states consisting of angular momentum eigenstates. It also has direct consequences for dynamics like photoemission; the angular distribution of photoelectrons exhibits a universal behavior in accordance with a very simple model [2]. Nevertheless, the almost free electrons in simple metal clusters do interact with the structured ion background, which perturbs and mixes the electronic states. Characterizing this perturbation by measuring the electronic density of states via photoelectron spectroscopy can therefore yield information about the cluster geometric structure. On both the experimental and the theoretical part a significant progress has been made over recent years, permitting a much more detailed insight into the electronic structure of metal clusters and its interplay with the geometric structure. I will discuss examples of simple metal cluster systems of increasing complexity, from sodium over copper and silver to gold, some of them showing unexpected geometric structures as well as exotic electronic states.

[1] W. D. Knight et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 52, 2141 (1984)

[2] A. Piechaczek et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 233201 (2021)

Keywords: Metal clusters; Photoelectron spectroscopy; Density of states; Cluster structures; Electron shells