Coulomb explosion of deuterium cationic clusters

Abstract

The recent experiments of Zweiback et al. on deuterium clusters irradiated with intense laser beams yielded D-D fusion. This has motivated us to carry out quantum-chemical calculations on a number of deuterium clusters, both neutral and cationic. For doubly charged clusters, in particular D312+, and plainly for more highly charged assemblies, Coulomb explosion of the cluster is in evidence. The quantum-chemical results we present strongly suggest that fragmentation occurs with small groups of deuterium atoms breaking away from the main cluster, such as to leave both small and large fragments with a net charge not exceeding +|e|.