Alkali metal atoms and small alkali clusters are classic heliophobes and when in contact with liquid helium they reside in a dimple on the surface. Here we show that alkalis can be induced to submerge into liquid helium when a highly polarizable co-solute, C, is added to a helium nanodroplet. Evidence is presented that shows that all sodium clusters, and probably single Na atoms, enter the helium droplet in the presence of C. Even clusters of cesium, an extreme heliophobe, dissolve in liquid helium when C is added. The sole exception is atomic Cs, which remains at the surface.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4967405 | DOI Listing |
Rev Sci Instrum
January 2025
Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
We design and construct an ultrafast optical spectroscopy instrument that integrates both on-site in situ high-pressure technique and low-temperature tuning capability. Conventional related instruments rely on off-site tuning and calibration of the high pressure. Recently, we have developed an on-site in situ technique, which has the advantage of removing repositioning fluctuation.
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December 2024
2nd Institute of Physics B and JARA-FIT, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
Low-temperature scanning tunneling spectroscopy is a key method to probe electronic and magnetic properties down to the atomic scale, but suffers from extreme vibrational sensitivity. This makes it challenging to employ closed-cycle cooling with its required pulse-type vibrational excitations, albeit this is mandatory to avoid helium losses for counteracting the continuously raising helium prices. Here, we describe a compact ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscope (STM) system with an integrated primary pulse tube cooler (PTC) for closed-cycle operation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSmall
December 2024
School of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
Ultrathin polymer membranes on porous substrates exhibit excellent gas and ion permeability and have important applications in many fields, such as membrane separation and batteries. However, there is still a lack of facile and general methods for the direct preparation of ultrathin polymer membranes on porous substrates, especially from polymer solutions. Within this work, a new strategy to fabricate centimeter-size ultrathin polymer membranes (thickness down to 16 nm) is presented directly on porous supports by using the liquid-liquid interfacial spin-coating technique.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Chem Phys
December 2024
Institut für Thermodynamik, Helmut-Schmidt-Universität/Universität der Bundeswehr Hamburg, Holstenhofweg 85, 22043 Hamburg, Germany.
We apply the methodology of Lustig, with which rigorous expressions for all thermodynamic properties can be derived in any statistical ensemble, to derive expressions for the calculation of thermodynamic properties in the path integral formulation of the quantum-mechanical isobaric-isothermal (NpT) ensemble. With the derived expressions, thermodynamic properties such as the density, speed of sound, or Joule-Thomson coefficient can be calculated in path integral Monte Carlo simulations, fully incorporating quantum effects without uncontrolled approximations within the well-known isomorphism between the quantum-mechanical partition function and a classical system of ring polymers. The derived expressions are verified by simulations of supercritical helium above the vapor-liquid critical point at selected state points using recent highly accurate ab initio potentials for pairwise and nonadditive three-body interactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Chem Phys
December 2024
Departament FQA, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
We study superfluid helium droplets multiply charged with Na+ or Ca+ ions. When stable, the charges are found to reside in equilibrium close to the droplet surface, thus representing a physical realization of Thomson's model. We find the minimum radius of the helium droplet that can host a given number of ions using a model whose physical ingredients are the solvation energy of the cations, calculated within the helium density functional theory approach, and their mutual Coulomb repulsion energy.
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