Solvation of Silver Ions in Noble Gases He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe.

We use a novel technique to solvate silver cations in small clusters of noble gases. The technique involves formation of large, superfluid helium nanodroplets that are subsequently electron ionized, mass-selected by deflection in an electric field, and doped with silver atoms and noble gases (Ng) in pickup cells. Excess helium is then stripped from the doped nanodroplets by multiple collisions with helium gas at room temperature, producing cluster ions that contain no more than a few dozen noble gas atoms and just a few (or no) silver atoms. Under gentle stripping conditions helium atoms remain attached to the cluster ions, demonstrating their low vibrational temperature. Under harsher stripping conditions some of the heavier noble gas atoms will be evaporated as well, thus enriching stable clusters NgnAgm+ at the expense of less stable ones. This results in local anomalies in the cluster ion abundance which is measured in a high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Based on these data we identify...