IONIC AND TEMPERATURE ASPECTS OF THE PHOTORESPONSE OF METALLIC CLUSTERS

A calculation of the electronic response of alkali metal clusters is c arried cut in the Adiabatic Time-Dependent Local Density Approximation , The role played by the ionic structure is investigated in the framew ork of second-order pseudopotential perturbation theory. The calculati ons are carried out at different temperatures, and the effect of tempe rature in the decay of the collective excitations is analyzed. It is f ound that the coupling of the electrons to the thermal vibrations of t he ions accounts for the width of the plasmon resonances.