THE PHOTODEPLETION ACTION SPECTRUM OF THE (BAF)(2) CLUSTER

The (BaF)(2) cluster has been produced in a supersonic expansion of a mixture of helium and CH3F which contained laser desorbed barium. Its photodepletion action spectrum measured by time-of-flight mass spectro metry displays low depletion cross sections (approximate to 3 Angstrom (2)) and a clear vibrational structure. This structure has been analyz ed to obtain spectroscopic constants of the excited state involved in the photofragmentation of the cluster. Furthermore, its ionization pot ential (I.P.) has been determined to be 4.03 eV, and a discussion on t he spectroscopy, structure, and dynamics crf the cluster is also prese nted. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(98)51310-4].