We report on evaporation studies on positively charged water clusters (H(+)(H(2)O)(N)) and negatively charged mixed clusters (X(-)(H(2)O)(N)) with a small core ion X (X=O(2), CO(3), or NO(3)), in the size range N=5-300. The clusters were produced by corona discharge in ambient air, accelerated to 50 keV and mass selected by an electromagnet. The loss of monomers during the subsequent 3.4 m free flight was recorded. The average losses are proportional to the clusters' heat capacities and this allowed the determination of size-dependent heat capacities. The values are found to increase almost linearly with clusters size for both species, with a rate of 6k(B)-8k(B) per added molecule. For clusters with N<21 the heat capacities per molecule are lower but the incremental increase higher. For N>21 the values are intermediate between the bulk liquid and the solid water 0 degrees C values.

Inverse internal conversion followed by recurrent fluorescence was observed as a fast decay (10 μs range) in the time profile of neutral yields from photo-excited C4(-) molecular ions. We also elucidated the contribution of such electronic radiative cooling to the C4(-) ions with internal energy far below the detachment threshold by an alternative novel approach, observing the laser wavelength and storage time dependence (ms range) of the total yield of the photo-induced neutrals.

The spontaneous and photo-induced neutralization of C₇⁻ produced in a laser ablation source was measured in an electrostatic storage ring. The measurements provide three independent determinations of the radiative cooling of the ions, based on the short time spontaneous decay and on the integrated amplitude and the shape of the photo-induced neutralization signal. The amplitude of the photo-induced signal was measured between 0.5 ms and 35 ms and found to depend on photon wavelength and ion storage time. All three signals can be reproduced with identical thermal IR radiative cooling rates with oscillator strengths equal to theoretical predictions. In addition, the measurements provide the excitation energy distribution.

Beam-foil excitation functions have been measured for a number of optical transitions in Be Ia (configuration 1s 2 2s nl), Be Ib (configuration 1s 2 nl n'l'), Be IIa (configuration 1s 2 nl), Be IIb (configuration 1s nl n'l'), and Be IIIa (configuration 1s nl) in the projectile energy range 60-360 keV. The excitation functions within one level scheme were found to be proportional. They have been converted into relative population functions and the five sets of Be population functions have been linked together by only two empirically determined parameters. Comparisons to results from earlier works, using He and Li projectiles are drawn. Relative level population measurements have been performed in Be Ia, Be Ib, Be IIa and Be IIIa, the results are compared with earlier findings, and systematical trends are found. General conclusions about the beam-foil excitation mechanism are drawn.

We have investigated the beam-foil spectra of sulfur (1050-5500 Å), obtained with 100-700 keV ions. Several lines are classified as transitions in S II-S VII. Lifetime data for some selected levels in S III-S VI are also presented.