Metal-deficient iron oxide clusters formed in the gas phase

Molecular beams of oxidized iron clusters are produced by pulsed laser evaporation of iron followed by reaction of the resulting iron clusters with O2 in a continuous flow reactor. Nonstoichiometry of the iron oxide clusters is found, the composition rapidly approaching Fe/sub 0.9/O as cluster size increases. The relation of these results to the similar nonstoichiometries found in bulk FeO is discussed