Surface location of sodium atoms attached to He-3 nanodroplets

Abstract

We have experimentally studied the electronic $3p\leftarrow 3s$ excitation of Na atoms attached to ${}^3$He droplets by means of laser-induced fluorescence as well as beam depletion spectroscopy. From the similarities of the spectra (width/shift of absorption lines) with these of Na on ${}^4$He droplets, we conclude that sodium atoms reside in a ``dimple'' on the droplet surface. The experimental results are supported by Density Functional calculations at zero temperature, which confirm the surface location of sodium on ${}^3$He droplets, and provide a microscopic description of the ``dimple'' structure.

arXiv comment4 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (8)

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• Freezing of He-4 and its liquid-solid interface from Density Functional Theory
• The structure and energetics of ${}^3$He and ${}^4$He nanodroplets doped with alkaline earth atoms
• Quantum interference spectroscopy of RbHe exciplexes formed on helium nanodroplets
• Minimum sizes for the submersion of alkali clusters into liquid helium
• High activity of He droplets following ionization of systems inside those droplets
• Shapes of rotating normal fluid 3He versus superfluid 4He droplets in molecular beams
• Neutral and ionic dopants in helium clusters: interaction forces for the $L{i}_2(a^3{\Sigma }_u^{+})-He$ and $L{i}_2^{+}(X^2{\Sigma }_g^{+})-He$