CO2-LASER-DRIVEN PRODUCTION OF CARBON CLUSTERS AND FULLERENES FROM THE GAS-PHASE

We present a new technique which can be employed for the efficient pro duction of carbon clusters and fullerenes from the gas phase. It is ba sed on the rapid transfer of the vibrational energy from CO2-laser-exc ited SF6 to hydrocarbons. In a flow reactor, a low-pressure mixture of SF6 and C2H2 is subjected to the radiation of a cw or pulsed CO2 lase r. Thus very high temperatures are achieved, resulting in the dissocia tion Of C2H2 and the aggregation of the dissociation products to carbo n clusters and soot particles. By introducing a skimmer into the react ion zone, the generated carbon clusters are transferred to free molecu lar flow and analyzed with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer.