Reaction between barium and N2O on large van der Waals clusters: progressive embedding of the BaO product inside argon and neon clusters

When a chemical reaction occurs at the surface of a cluster, the product ca n either be ejected or remain solvated within the cluster. This paper deals with the dynamics of the solvated product on various van der Waals cluster s. This investigation is conducted on the Ba + N2O reactive system by probi ng the chemiluminescence of the BaO product, either immediately after the r eaction, or a few tens of microseconds later. It is shown that the interact ion between BaO and the solvent increases along the sequence neon, argon, m ethane and nitrogen. The effect of varying the interaction time between the cluster and the solvated product is all the more pronounced when the solve nt-product interaction is weak. It is very likely related to progressive em bedding of the product inside the cluster.