Neutral molecular ZnX (X=O, OH, N) compounds in a molecular beam

Neutral ZnO and ZnOH molecules could be produced in a molecular beam by expansion of laser ablated zinc together with H₂O, O₂ or N₂O seeded in a rare gas (Ar, Ne, He). Due to the characteristic Zn isotope distribution, the zinc containing compounds, ionized with a 100 fs laser pulse, could unambiguously be identified with a TOF mass spectrometer. The abundance of ZnOH produced in our experiments exceeds the one of ZnO and ZnN by orders of magnitude if H₂O is present in the system. Small quantities of (ZnO)₂H and Zn₂(OH)₃ compounds could also be observed. To our knowledge this is the first evidence for the occurrence of neutral ZnO and ZnOH molecules in a molecular beam.