Theoretical study of photoabsorption cross-section of water cluster anions: the size and isomer dependences

Photoabsorption cross-sections of water dimer and trimer anions are calculated with an ab initio molecular orbital method. Because the electron detachment energy of these small water cluster anions is less than 0.3 eV, all of the photoabsorption spectra in the near-infrared and visible region are due to the bound-free transitions. The theoretical spectra of two isomers of dimer anion and three isomers of trimer anion are compared, which suggest the possibility of the identification of the isomer structure by the photoabsorption spectra. The convergence on the basis sets is also examined by adding diffuse functions.