ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the experimental methods used to obtain “superalkali” clusters. First, a brief review of the names, classifications and descriptions of the chemical structure of these clusters useful for explaining the experimental research was given. In the next part of the chapter, the various methods of mass spectrometry are presented, with emphasis on the study of the evaporation of individual salts of alkali halides or their mixtures, where “superalkali” clusters are inevitably detected. Surface ionization (thermal ionization) and the Knudsen effusion cell are two standard techniques that have been used in mass spectrometry for many years and have played an important role in the field of “superalkali” clusters from their discovery to the present.
For this reason, the basic principles of operation of the surface ionization source and the Knudsen cell have been presented, along with a brief history of the origin and application of these methods. Some new possibilities of using the Knudsen cell in the mass spectrometer are pointed out, as well as the possibility of combining surface ionization and the Knudsen cell to obtain “superalkali” clusters. The possibilities of determining ionization energies by these two methods are also described.
