Metal Clusters at Surfaces Structure, Quantum Properties, Physical Chemistry [Hardcover]

Due to the interaction with the contact medium, the properties of clusters may change or even disappear. Thus the physics of cluster-on-surface systems -- the main subject of this book -- is of fundamental importance. The book addresses a wide audience, from the newcomer to the expert. Starting from fundamental concepts of adsorbate-surface interactions, the modification of electronic properties through electron confinement, and concepts of cluster production, it elucidates the distinct properties of the new metallic nanostructures.Numerous experiments and calculations have shown that isolated metal clusters possess many interesting features, quite different from those known from surface and solid- state physics or from atomic and molecular physics. The technological exploitation of these new properties, e.g. in miniature electronic or mechanical components, requires the cluster to be brought into an environment such as an encapsulating matrix or a surface. Due to the interaction with the contact medium, the properties of the clusters may change or even disappear. Thus the physics of cluster-on-surface systems -- the main subject of this book -- is of fundamental importance. The book addresses a wide audience, from the newcomer to the expert. Starting from fundamental concepts of adsorbate-surface interactions, the modification of electronic properties through electron confinement, and concepts of cluster production, it elucidates the distinct properties of the new metallic nanostructures.1 Confinement and Size Effects in Free Metal Clusters.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Free Simple Metal Clusters.- 1.2.1 The Shell Model.- 1.2.2 Extended Theoretical Models.- 1.2.3 Liquid and Solid Clusters.- 1.2.4 Molecular Beam Methods for Cluster Research.- 1.2.5 Electronic and Geometrical Structure.- 1.2.6 Optical Excitations and Plasma Resonances.- 1.3 Magnetic Particles in Molecular Beams.- 1.3.1 Stern-Gerlach Deflections of Ferromagnetic Metal Clusters.- 1.3.2 Magnetic Moments of 3lÃF