The role of small silver clusters in photography

Size-selected silver cluster ions have been produced in a mass spectrometer arrangement and have been deposited onto binder-free AgBr microcrystals. Clusters containing less than four silver atoms did not catalyze development (reduction) of the microcrystals. However, application of clusters containing four or more silver atoms rendered the crystals immediately developable in a conventional photographic developer. This for the first time proves directly, that a so-called latent image speck under these conditions of development requires a minimum number of four silver atoms.