Detecting Interatomic and Intermolecular Coulombic Decay in clusters by fluorescence

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Interatomic coulombic decay (ICD), a radiationless transition in weakly bound systems, is an effective source for electrons of low kinetic energy. So far, the ICD processes could only be probed in ultra-high vacuum by using electron and/or ion spectroscopy. Here we propose to investigate ICD processes by detection of the subsequently emitted characteristic fluorescence radiation, which makes their study in dense media possible. Three prototypical studies are planned. The first experiment will measure the time and energy resolved dispersed fluorescence on neon clusters to obtain characteristics of the emitted radiation in homogenous systems. In the second experiment, the advantage of fluorescence detection - the initial, intermediate, and final state selectivity - will be used to show directly the energy transport from one partner of a heterogeneous cluster to the other. The third experiment will apply the method to more complex targets, namely to H2O clusters. This project may finally expand experiments about the ubiquitous ICD process from artificial rare-gas clusters into omnipresent media, i.e. nano ice crystals (H2O clusters).