The Journal of Chemical Physics

Rotational fluctuation of molecules in quantum clusters. II. Molecular rotation and superfluidity in OCS-doped helium-4 clusters

Shinichi Miura

Published Mar 20, 2007• 28 citations

Abstract

In this paper, quantum fluctuations of a carbonyl sulfide molecule in helium-4 clusters are studied as a function of cluster size N in a small-to-large size regime (2<or=N<or=64). The molecular rotation of the dopant shows nonmonotonic size dependence in the range of 10<or=N<or=20, reflecting the density distribution of the helium atoms around the molecule. The size dependence on the rotational constant shows a plateau for N>or=20, which is larger than the experimental nanodroplet value. Superfluid response of the doped cluster is found to show remarkable anisotropy especially for N<or=20. The superfluid fraction regarding the axis perpendicular to the molecular axis shows a steep increase at N=10, giving the significant enhancement of the rotational fluctuation of the molecule. On the other hand, the superfluid fraction regarding the axis parallel to the molecular axis reaches 0.9 at N=5, arising from the bosonic exchange cycles of the helium atoms around the molecular axis. The anisotropy in the superfluid response is found to be the direct consequence of the configurations of the bosonic exchange cycles.

DOI: 10.1063/1.2713397

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Rotational fluctuation of molecules in quantum clusters. II. Molecular rotation and superfluidity in OCS-doped helium-4 clusters

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In this paper, quantum fluctuations of a carbonyl sulfide molecule in helium-4 clusters are studied as a function of cluster size N in a small-to-large size regime (2 ≤ N ≤ 64). The molecular rotation of the dopant shows nonmonotonic size dependence in the range of 10≤N≤20, reflecting the density distribution of the helium atoms around the molecule. The size dependence on the rotational constant shows a plateau for N≥20, which is larger than the experimental nanodroplet value. Superfluid response of the doped cluster is found to show remarkable anisotropy especially for N ≤20. The superfluid fraction regarding the axis perpendicular to the molecular axis shows a steep increase at N = 10, giving the significant enhancement of the rotational fluctuation of the molecule. On the other hand, the superfluid fraction regarding the axis parallel to the molecular axis reaches 0.9 at N=5, arising from the bosonic exchange cycles of the helium atoms around the molecular axis. The anisotropy in the superfluid response is found to be the direct consequence of the configurations of the bosonic exchange cycles. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.

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