Ejection of a doubly charged light fragment in asymmetric fission of multiply charged fullerenes

L. Chen; S. Martin; R. Brédy; J. Bernard; J. Désesquelles

doi:doi:10.1209/epl/i2002-00649-7

DOI: 10.1209/epl/i2002-00649-7

Europhys. Lett., 58 (3) , pp. 375-381 (2002)

Ejection of a doubly charged light fragment in asymmetric fission of multiply charged fullerenes

L. Chen, S. Martin, R. Brédy, J. Bernard and J. Désesquelles

Laboratoire de Spectrométrie Ionique et Moléculaire Université Lyon 1, UMR CNRS No. 5579 43 boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918 - 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France

(Received 8 November 2001; accepted in final form 7 February 2002)

Abstract
In $\chem{Ar^{8+}}$ - $\chem{C_{60}}$ collisions, quintuply charged fullerene $\chem{{C_{60}}^{5+}}$ is produced via multiple electron capture by slow highly charged ions from neutral fullerenes. Quasi-symmetric charge division (3, 2) is observed in asymmetric mass division fission processes, i.e. $\chem{{C_{60}}^{5+}\rightarrow}$ $\chem{C}$ _60-m³⁺ + $\chem{C}$ _m⁺⁺ ( $m\ll60$ ). In such fission channels, the charge density of the doubly charged light fragment is much higher than that of the triply charged heavy one. The measured population distribution as a function of the mass of the doubly charged fragment m is interpreted tentatively by fission barrier analyses.

PACS
36.40.Qv - Stability and fragmentation of clusters.
36.40.Wa - Charged clusters.
34.70.+e - Charge transfer.

© EDP Sciences 2002