Magnetism in oxygen clusters. Study of pure and mixed clusters of oxygen by Stern–Gerlach spectroscopy

Abstract

The Stern–Gerlach deflection spectra of O₄, O₆ and O₈ and also of mixed van der Waals clusters Ar–O₂ and Ar–O₄ were measured in a cold beam. Only a slight deflection of the beam was detected when a magnetic field was applied. The lack of deflection peaks such as those observed for O₂ is discussed and indicates that the ground state of the complexes is singlet, with the triplet states not populated in the molecular beam.