Generation of Large Vortex-Free Superfluid Helium Nanodroplets

• Main Authors: Ulmer, Anatoli, Heilrath, Andrea, Senfftleben, Björn, O'Connell-Lopez, Sean M. O, Kruse, Björn, Seiffert, Lennart, Kolatzki, Katharina, Langbehn, Bruno, Hoffmann, Andreas, Baumann, Thomas M, Boll, Rebecca, Chatterley, Adam S, De Fanis, Alberto, Erk, Benjamin, Erukala, Swetha, Feinberg, Alexandra J, Fennel, Thomas, Grychtol, Patrik, Hartmann, Robert, Ilchen, Markus, Izquierdo, Manuel, Krebs, Bennet, Kuster, Markus, Mazza, Tommaso, Montaño, Jacobo, Noffz, Georg, Rivas, Daniel E, Schlosser, Dieter, Seel, Fabian, Stapelfeldt, Henrik, Strüder, Lothar, Tiggesbäumker, Josef, Yousef, Hazem, Zabel, Michael, Ziolkowski, Pawel, Meyer, Michael, Ovcharenko, Yevheniy, Vilesov, Andrey F, Möller, Thomas, Rupp, Daniela, Tanyag, Rico Mayro P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 14.02.2023
• Subjects: Physics - Atomic and Molecular Clusters; Physics - Fluid Dynamics; Physics - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2302.07355

Superfluid helium nanodroplets are an ideal environment for the formation of metastable, self-organized dopant nanostructures. However, the presence of vortices often hinders their formation. Here, we demonstrate the generation of vortex-free helium nanodroplets and explore the size range in which they can be produced. From x-ray diffraction images of xenon-doped droplets, we identify that single compact structures, assigned to vortex-free aggregation, prevail up to $10^8$ atoms per droplet. This finding builds the basis for exploring the assembly of far-from-equilibrium nanostructures at low temperatures.