Ionic thermal effects on photo-electron emission within time-dependent density-functional theory

We study the impact of thermal fluctuations of cluster/molecule shape on photo-electron spectra (PES) and photo-electron angular distributions (PAD) using a detailed time-dependent simulation of the emission dynamics and thermal ionic motion. Basis of the description is time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) coupled to molecular dynamics for ionic motion. Test cases are small Na clusters and the C-3 molecule. For Na clusters, we find that PES signals are rather robust for one-photon processes while large smearing of the pattern are observed at lower frequencies in multi-photon processes. This effect can be related to the typical spectral response of the metal clusters. PAD are generally much more robust than PES. The C-3 molecule produces a greater variety of thermal response. This happens because this molecule has eigenmodes with much different softness.