Macrocluster desorption effect caused by single MCI: charges of gold clusters (2-20 nm) desorbed due to electronic processes induced by fission fragment bombardment in nanodispersed gold targets

In this work the charge state of the negatively charged gold nanocluster ions (2-20 nm) that were desorbed from nanodispersed gold islet targets by 252Cf fission fragments via electronic processes is studied. Mean cluster charge was calculated as a ratio of mean cluster mass to mean mass-to-charge ratio . Cluster masses were measured by means of a collector technique employing transmission electron microscopy and scanning force microscopy, while m/q was measured by means of a tandem TOF-spectrometer. It is shown that the nanocluster ions are mostly multiply charged (2-16e) and the charge increases non-linearly with the cluster size. The results are discussed