Interaction of soft x-ray photons with free alkali-halide molecular clusters

Alkali-halide molecular clusters were formed from the vaporized molecules in collisions with an intense beam of argon clusters. Photoionization of the alkali-halide clusters as the result of interaction with x-ray radiation has been utilized in a photoelectron spectroscopy study of cluster bonding mechanisms. The changes in the energy structure due to the transformation from molecules to the solid salt were observed both in the inner and outer shells of constituent elements (metal and halogen) and were used to deduce the geometric structure of the clusters in question.