Electron exchange between an H− ion and a spherical cluster of aluminum atoms

The resonant charge transfer (RCT) between a hydrogen anion and a cluster of aluminum atoms is investigated by means of the wave-packet propagation method that does not exploit the perturbation theory. The RCT on a spherical cluster is found to exhibit quantum size effects due to the finite size of the cluster. The survival amplitude of an ion state has been calculated as a function of the distance to the ion-surface in a normal collision. It is shown that depending on the velocity of the impinging particle, the cluster can behave either as a bulk metal or as a quantum structure with discrete energy states existing over two coordinates.