Photodissociation of medium-sized argon cluster cations in the visible region.

Semiclassical methods for non-adiabatic dynamics simulations, based on a semiempirical diatomics-in-molecules model of intracluster interactions and the mean-field dynamical approach with the inclusion of quantum decoherence, have been used to study the photodissociation of argon cluster cations, Ar(N)(+)(N = 6-19), at E(phot) = 2.35 eV. Time periods upto t = 200 ps have been considered and abundance of ionic and neutral fragments, their time evolution and stability have been investigated and compared with available experimental data as well as earlier theoretical studies. A good agreement has been achieved between our predictions and the experimental data and deviations from earlier dynamical calculations are discussed.