Cluster-surface scattering in a reflectron collider: probing fullerenes by surface impact

In this article, recent cluster-surface collision experiments are reviewed from the perspective of fullerene research. A detailed description of the method and the reflectron time-of-flight surface collider (reflectron collider), designed and built in Los Angeles, will be given first, to show how pulsed cluster-ion-beams are mass and energy selected, collided with specific surfaces and the various outcomes studied. In the second part, we outline several applications together with the scientific impact surface collision experiments have had on several fullerene-related research subjects. This includes impact-induced dissociation experiments, to probe stability and structural resilience, rebound velocity distributions from solid surfaces to reveal energetic and dynamic aspects of the scattering process, and rates of delayed electron emission from impact-heated fullerenes. Impact experiments also have turned out to be a useful tool to examine structural hypotheses as demonstrated on coalescence products from fullerene-fullerene reactions, fullerene derivatives and on metallo-fullerenes.