Photoionization Mass Spectrometric Study of Neutral Bare Aluminum Clusters and Aluminum-Carbon Mixed Clusters

Photoionization time of flight mass spectra of bare aluminum and aluminum-carbon mixed clusters as well as a variety of oxygen- and oxygen-carbon-adducted aluminum clusters are recorded and assigned. The discontinuities in the mass abundance spectra at AI₇, AI₁₃, AI₂₃ ,AI₇C, AI₁₃C, and AI₂₄C are revealed. The findings are interpreted in terms of the electronic and geometric structures of these species.