Electron impact ionization efficiency curves of van der Waals clusters

The study of van der Waals clusters is an area of growing interest and is being widely studied for a number of reasons. The measurement of the ionization efficiency (IE) curves have yielded a wealth of information by enabling ionization and appearance energies of ions to be determined which are essential for the calculation of thermochemical data. In the case of van der Waals clusters, the measurement of IE curves enables one to determine the qualitative trends in the ionization potentials as a function of cluster size. In addition IE curves have also offered valuable insight into ionization related processes occurring in clusters. This paper will cover some of the more recent studies of Penning ionization, exciton induced decay and Coulomb explosion in van der Waals clusters through the use of electron impact IE curves.