The dissociation energy of V₁₃⁺ and the consequences for radiative cooling

The dissociation energy of V₁₃ ⁺ has been determined by comparison of the rates of sequential fragmentation, V₁₃ ⁺→V ₁₂ ⁺→V ₁₁ ⁺, and single-step fragmentation of the first fragment, V ₁₂ ⁺→V ₁₁ ⁺. The dissociation-energy value obtained as D=4.35(13) eV has implications for the amount of radiative cooling of the cluster derived form the data presented earlier [C. Walther et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 3816 (1999)] and is used to analyze additional results.