Guest-host interaction and photochemical transformation of silver particles isolated in rare gas matrices

Silver dimers and small clusters isolated in rare gas matrices are studied by UV-VIS absorption, emission, and resonance Raman spectroscopy. One, two, and three dimer trapping sites can be identified in Xe, Kr, and Ar matrices, respectively. The sites are identified by computer simulation to be either ofD _4h symmetry, with the molecules aligned in the 〈100〉-direction of thefcc-host lattice, or ofD _2h symmetry, with the molecules occupying single or double vacancies and aligned in the 〈110〉-direction. Low energy external modes of the dimers are observed in the resonance Raman spectra. They probe the guest-host interaction of the molecules and are assigned to librational modes. Trimers and larger clusters are found to be very photosensitive. Three different trimers can be observed in Xe and Kr matrices, respectively. They can be transformed reversibly into each other by laser irradiation. This indicates that probably three corresponding isomers can get stabilized in the two matrices. Further evidence for this interpretation is obtained from emission spectroscopy. Despite the photosensitivity of the trimers it is possible to stabilize the concentration of a particular species by a dual beam technique. Thus we obtained a resonance Raman spectrum of one species in a Xe matrix and a preresonance spectrum of the corresponding species in a Kr matrix.