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Le Journal de Physique Colloques

ATOMIC INTERACTION WITH QUANTUM FLUID CLUSTERS : 3He-CLUSTER BEAM GENERATION AND Cs-SCATTERING BY4He-CLUSTERS

J. Gspann, G. Krieg, Hans-Peter Vollmar

Published Jul 1, 1977• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The recently accomplished generation of 3He-clusters using nozzle sources with internal recycling of the nozzle feed gas is described. Measured cluster sizes are in the same range of some millions of atoms per cluster as in the case of 4He-clusters generated with the same nozzle. Cesium atomic beam scattering by 4He-clusters beams is studied as a means of investigating the atomic interaction with helium clusters which are unique in being certainly liquid due to the quantum fluid properties of helium.

DOI
10.1051/jphyscol:1977236

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Le Journal de Physique Colloques•Jul 1, 1980•0 citations
The recently accomplished generation of 3He-clusters using nozzle sources with internal recycling of the nozzle feed gas is described. Measured cluster sizes are in the same range of some millions of atoms per cluster as in the case of 4He-clusters generated with the same nozzle. Cesium atomic beam scattering by 4He-clusters beams is studied as a means of investigating the atomic interaction with helium clusters which are unique in being certainly liquid due to the quantum fluid properties of helium.
The size distributions of neutral 4He clusters in cryogenic jet beams, analyzed by diffraction from a 100 nm period transmission grating, reveal magic numbers at N=10-11, 14, 22, 26-27, and 44 atoms. Whereas magic numbers in nuclei and clusters are attributed to enhanced stabilities, this is not expected for quantum fluid He clusters on the basis of numerous calculations. These magic numbers occur at threshold sizes for which the quantized excitations calculated with the diffusion Monte Carlo method are stabilized, thereby providing the first experimental confirmation for the energy levels of 4He clusters.
Helium droplets spanning a wide size range, N(He) = 10(3)-10(10), were formed in a continuous-nozzle beam expansion at different nozzle temperatures and a constant stagnation pressure of 20 bars. The average sizes of the droplets have been obtained by attenuation of the droplet beam through collisions with argon and helium gases at room temperature. The results obtained are in good agreement with previous measurements in the size range N(He) = 10(5)-10(7). Moreover, the measurements give the average sizes in the previously uncharacterized range of very large droplets of 10(7)-10(10) atoms. The droplet sizes and beam flux increase rapidly at nozzle temperatures below 6 K, which is ascribed to the formation of droplets within the nozzle interior. The mass spectra of the droplet beam upon electron impact ionization have also been obtained. The spectra show a large increase in the intensity of the He(4) (+) signal upon increase of the droplet size, an effect which can be used as a secondary size standard in the droplet size range N(He) = 10(4)-10(9) atoms.
Diffuse clusters of arbitrary numbers of helium atoms are treated in a mean-field theory of the many-body system. The nonlinear Hartree self-consistent-field equations are solved numerically to give their energy eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. Both isotopes 4He and 3He are treated according to their bosonic and fermionic statistics and symmetry requirements. Clusters of all sizes of 4He atoms are stable, but there is a minimum threshold of ∼70 atoms for the formation of 3He clusters. All the excited states in addition to the ground state were found. The wave functions are seen to have interesting differences from electronic wave functions in atoms.
The last five years have seen a burst of activity leading to the current view that 3He atoms dissolved in superfluid liquid 4He show remarkable resemblance to a weakly-interacting Fermi gas. This is because the solvent 4He, having vanishingly small entropy, specific heat, viscosity and magnetic susceptibility, behaves almost as if it were a massive vacuum, in which 3He atoms float. So at last a real Fermi ‘gas’ is available and can readily be cooled to temperatures well below its Fermi degeneracy temperature. This model of solute 3He, with its weaknesses and strengths, is the basis of this article.
A stability chart of mixed 4He{}^{4}\mathrm{He}4He and 3He{}^{3}\mathrm{He}3He clusters has been obtained by means of the diffusion Monte Carlo method, using both the Aziz HFD-B and the Tang-Toennies-Yiu atom-atom interaction. The investigated clusters contain up to eight 4He{}^{4}\mathrm{He}4He atoms and up to 20 3He{}^{3}\mathrm{He}3He atoms. One single 4He{}^{4}\mathrm{He}4He binds 20 3He{}^{3}\mathrm{He}3He atoms, and two 4He{}^{4}\mathrm{He}4He bind 1, 2, 8, and more than 14 3He{}^{3}\mathrm{He}3He atoms. All clusters with three or more 4He{}^{4}\mathrm{He}4He atoms are bound, although the combinations 4He33He9,10,11{}^{4}{\mathrm{He}}_{3}^{3}{\mathrm{He}}_{9,10,11}4He33​He9,10,11​ and 4He43He9{}^{4}{\mathrm{He}}_{4}^{3}{\mathrm{He}}_{9}4He43​He9​ are metastable. Clusters with 2, 8, and 20 3He{}^{3}\mathrm{He}3He atoms are particularly stable and define magic 3He{}^{3}\mathrm{He}3He numbers.