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Abstract

The optical response of anionic clusters of sodium and potassium with up to 40 valence electrons is calculated making use of a self-interaction-corrected linear-response formalism recently developed by the authors. It is found that, for these systems, the surface plasmon is excited systematically above the ionization threshold and is strongly Landau damped, with its strength distribution spread over an energy interval of typically ≈1 eV, reflecting the shorter lifetime of these systems with respect to the neutral and cationic clusters. Furthermore, it is found that temperature-dependent broadening mechanisms are able to wash out the fine structure in the line shapes of the cross sections.