We report the observation of the giant dipole plasmon resonance in the fluorene molecule $\left({\mathrm{C}}_{13}{\mathrm{H}}_{10}\right)$, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, upon collisions with H-like silicon ions. An idea of using highly charged ions to create a large perturbation strength is exploited to observe the plasmon state effectively in the electron double-differential distribution. The signature of plasmon excitation is observed directly as a characteristic broad peak in the electron double-differential spectrum. Such an excited state could not be observed for the same molecule when the low charged ions having lower perturbation were used. This is explained by a model based on dipole approximation and linear response theory for the giant plasmon resonance. The angular distribution of these electrons is modeled using the photoelectron angular distribution for an oscillating dipole superimposed with the postcollision interaction due to the long-range Coulomb interaction between the plasmon electrons and the receding projectile ions.

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• Atomic & molecular collisions
• Scattering of atoms, molecules, clusters & ions
• Electrostatic accelerators
• Ions
• Molecules