Abstract

This chapter discusses the behavior and detection of electric and magnetic dipole moments in atomic and molecular nanoclusters. We concentrate on studies of free particles (i.e., clusters produced, probed, mass selected, and detected in beams [Pauly 2000]), because in such work the focus is on exploring the inherent physical properties of these nanoparticles. In this way, clusters can be studied with their size and composition precisely known, and with their features unperturbed by substrate interactions.