Magic numbers and stabilities of heavy water clusters, (D2O)ND+, N=3-48

The abundance spectrum of deuterated heavy water clusters has been measured, and relative dissociation energies were extracted from the abundances. The dissociation energies are similar to those of protonated light water clusters, except for a slightly reduced excess stability of the N = 21 cluster relative to the N = 22 cluster. The difference is interpreted in terms of the special geometry of the N = 21 cluster. The absence of a similar effect for N = 28/29 suggests that the stability of the N = 28 cluster is not due to a closed shell structure. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.