Photoelectron spectroscopy of anions at 118.2 nm: observation of high electron binding energies in superhalogens MCl4- (M=Sc, Y, La)

High energy photon is needed for photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) of anions with high electron binding energies, such as superhalogens and O-rich metal oxide clusters. The highest energy photon used for anion PES in the laboratory has been 157 nm (7.866 eV) from F2 eximer lasers. Here, we report an anion PES experiment using coherent vacuum ultraviolet radiation at 118.2 nm (10.488 eV) by tripling the third harmonic output (355 nm) of a Nd:YAG laser in a XeAr cell. Our study focuses on a set of superhalogen species, MCl(4) (-) (M=Sc, Y, La), which were expected to possess very high electron binding energies. While the 157 nm photon can only access the ground state detachment features for these species, more transitions to the excited states at binding energies higher than 8 eV are observed at 118.2 nm. The adiabatic detachment energies are shown to be, 6.84, 7.02, and 7.03 eV for ScCl(4) (-), YCl(4) (-), and LaCl(4) (-) eV, respectively, whereas their corresponding vertical detachment energies are measured to be 7.14, 7.31, and 7.38 eV.