Photodissociation of small group-14 atomic clusters in a multi-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer

Abstract Cationic and anionic clusters of the group-14 elements carbon, silicon, germanium, tin, lead are produced by high-vacuum laser ablation studied with a multi-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer. In-trap photodissociation is performed for cluster species in size range $$n =$$ n = 2–10. The clusters’ production rates as well their dissociation pathways used to probe nonmetal–metal transition throughout group. Carbon show neutral-trimer break-off, while those other evaporate neutral monomers and, some cases, form specific charged fragment sizes. Graphic abstract