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Physics Today

Superfluid Helium Droplets: An Ultracold Nanolaboratory

Jan Peter Toennies, Andrej F. Vilesov, K. Birgitta Whaley

Published Feb 1, 2001• 193 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The unique environment in liquid helium droplets opens up new opportunities for molecular spectroscopy and for probing superfluid phenomena on the atomic scale.
DOI
10.1063/1.1359707

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Free superfluid helium droplets constitute a versatile medium for a diverse range of experiments in physics and chemistry that extend from studies of the fundamental laws of superfluid motion to the synthesis of novel nanomaterials. In particular, the emergence of quantum vortices in rotating helium droplets is one of the most dramatic hallmarks of superfluidity and gives detailed access to the wave function describing the quantum liquid. This review provides an introduction to quantum vorticity in helium droplets, followed by a historical account of experiments on vortex visualization in bulk superfluid helium and a more detailed discussion of recent advances in the study of the rotational motion of isolated, nano- to micrometer-scale superfluid helium droplets. Ultrafast X-ray and extreme ultraviolet scattering techniques enabled by X-ray free-electron lasers and high-order harmonic generation in particular have facilitated the in situ detection of droplet shapes and the imaging of vortex structures inside individual, isolated droplets. New applications of helium droplets ranging from studies of quantum phase separations to mechanisms of low-temperature aggregation are discussed.
What is the minimum number of atoms needed for superfluidity? According to the results of a remarkable molecular spectroscopy experiment, there is definite proof that a system of only 60 atoms can be superfluid. Slava Grebencv and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Fluid Dynamics in Göttingen, Germany, found that small molecules dissolved in droplets of liquid helium can rotate freely, just like they do in a vacuum (S Grebencv, J P Tocnnies and A Vilesov 1998 Science 279 2083). The molecules rotate freely because the surrounding helium is a "superfluid" – a liquid without viscosity. In effect, the liquid helium acts as a vacuum.