Properties of H2, Ar, and Ne Clusters in Superfluid 4H E Nanodroplets
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Properties of H2, Ar, and Ne clusters in superfluid 4He nanodroplets Towards a search for superfluidity in large supercooled H2 clusters by Hiroko Nakahara B.Sc., The University of British Columbia, 2006 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (Physics) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2009 © Hiroko Nakahara 2009 Abstract The ultimate goal of this research project is to develop an experiment to probe for superfluity in large clusters of molecular hydrogen in ultra-cold helium-4 nanodroplets. Superfluidity has now been observed in a wide variety of systems and hydrogen is a good candidate to exhibit this macroscopic quantum phenomenon in a molecular system. In this thesis, two major advances were made enroute to the eventual search for superfluidity in bulk clusters of molecular hydrogen. 1. In the first advance, the fluidity of supercooled molecular H2 was investigated in helium-4 nanodroples ( i05 atoms) at 0.38 K. To clearly demonstrate that the 112 clusters are fluxional, or fluid-like, separate studies of argon and neon clusters were also made for comparison. To probe the behavior of the clusters, a single tetracene probe molecule was also inserted into the droplet and the laser induced fluorescence (LIF) from the tetracene was studied as a function of the cluster size and the pickup method. In the prior pickup method, the cluster species is added to the 4He droplet before to the probe molecule and in the post pickup method, the tetracene is added and then the cluster species is added. Due to the difference in the pickup order, the configuration of the probe molecule and the cluster species can differ. The observed spectral shift of tetracene LIF in the presence of the cluster species was studied for both pickup methods. For Ar and Ne clusters, the spectral shifts from the prior and post pickup methods show clear differences. This observation suggests that for prior pickup, the tetracene molecule attaches to the surface of the cluster and does not penetrate into the centre of the cluster and we conclude that the Ar and Ne clusters are not fluid-like in the helium droplets. For para-hydrogen and normal-hydrogen the LIF spectra of tetracene are independent of pickup order and we conclude that the supercooled H2 clusters remain fluid-like at 0.38 K. 2. The second advance made in this thesis was to configure the droplet apparatus to study the rotational states of probe molecules in 4He droplets doped with 112 clusters. The rotational states are studied by a combination of infrared and mass spectroscopy. Methane is the probe molecule used and when introduced into the 411e droplet it is surrounded by the H2 cluster. If the surrounding H2 liquid is superfluid, the methane rotates freely with a low moment of inertia. Conversely, if the 112 remains a normal fluid, the dopant molecule drags hydrogen molecules along as it rotates and has a much larger moment of inertia. Rotationally resolved infrared spectroscopy of the methane gives clear information about the state of the surrounding supercooled liquid 112. As a first step, the v3 vibrational mode of bare methane in 4He droplets was studied. The R(0) transition of the 7)3 stretching mode of methane was partially observed and found to be consistent with the R(0) peak for CH4-doped 4He droplet systems previously measured by the Miller group [1]. Hiroko Nakahara nhiroko©physics.ubc.ca 11 Table of Contents Abstract ii Table of Contents iii List of Tables v List of Figures vi 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Bose-Einstein condensation and superfluidity 1 1.2 Molecular hydrogen: ortho-Hydrogen and para-Hydrogen 1 1.2.1 BECofH2 3 1.3 Previous studies of superfluidity in hydrogen clusters 4 1.4 Free rotation of fermionic molecules 6 2 Tetracene Laser-Induced Fluorescence 10 2.1 Motivation 10 2.2 LIF 11 2.3 Experimental setup for LIF measurements 13 2.4 LIF of tetracene 16 2.4.1 LIF of tetracene in gas phase 16 2.4.2 Bare tetracene in 4He droplets 16 2.5 Size determination of the 4He droplets 20 2.6 LIF results: H2, Ne, and Ar clusters 23 2.6.1 H2, Ne, and Ar cluster sizes 23 2.6.2 Correction for the cluster size in helium droplets 25 2.6.3 Ar, Ne, nH2, and pH2 clusters 26 2.7 Discussion 30 2.7.1 Maximum cluster size 30 2.7.2 Intermediate cluster sizes of Ar, Ne, pH2, and nH2 31 2.7.3 Large cluster sizes of Ar, Ne, pH2, and nH2 34 2.7.4 Pickup order dependence for large H2 clusters 35 2.7.5 Evaporation and cooling rate of 4He droplets 37 2.8 Summary of the LIF results 43 3 Measurement of the v3 vibrational band of CH4 in Helium droplets . 44 3.1 Motivation: A search for superfluidity in large supercooled H2 clusters . 44 3.2 Depletion experiment techniques 48 3.3 Preparation for the depletion experiment 51 3.3.1 Installation of the CW nozzle 51 in Table of Contents 3.3.2 Performance check of the quadrupole mass spectrometer 54 3.3.3 Performance check of the CW nozzle 58 3.3.4 Sample and laser preparation 60 3.3.5 Gas Phase JR Spectrum of Methane 64 3.3.6 Depletion experiment setup 65 3.3.7 Preliminary Results 66 3.3.8 Depletion experiment summary 69 4 Conclusions and outlook 71 Bibliography 72 iv List of Tables 1.1 Condensation temperatures of 4He, H2, Ne, and Ar 3 2.1 Droplet size, max cluster size, and nozzle conditions for LIF measurements. 32 V List of Figures 1.1 Bose-Einstein condensation cartoon 2 1.2 Symmetric top and free rotation of OCS probe molecules 5 1.3 JR spectra of OCS-(oD2)N and OCS-(pH2)N clusters in helium droplets . 6 1.4 Pendular spectroscopy of the linear and polar molecule HCCCN 7 1.5 Free rotation of HCN probe molecules in Fermionic HD clusters 8 2.1 Mg-phthalocyanine and tetracene 11 2.2 Two types of laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) 12 2.3 Droplet machine chambers and the pulsed nozzle 14 2.4 The prior and post pickup methods 15 2.5 LIF spectrum of tetracene in the gas phase 17 2.6 Comparison of LIF spectra of tetracerie in the gas phase and in 4He droplets 18 2.7 LIF spectrum of single tetracene probe molecules in 4He droplets 19 2.8 Bare tetracene LIF spectrum and the phonon wing 20 2.9 Saturation check of LIF spectrum as a function of laser energy 21 2.10 Argon pressure dependence of the bare tetracene LIF signal intensity . 22 2.11 Prior and post cluster size determination (Ar, nH2 and Ne) 24 2.12 Tetreacene LIF spectra in droplets with prior and post Ar clusters 26 2.13 Tetreacene LIF spectra in droplets with prior and post Ne clusters 27 2.14 Tetreacene LIF spectra in droplets with prior and post nH2 and pH2 clusters 29 2.15 LIF signal spectral shift for Ar, Ne, and H2 clusters versus cluster size . 33 2.16 Two possible tetracene configurations for prior pickup 34 2.17 Pickup order dependence of the LIF signal for large nH2 and pH2 clusters 36 2.18 Cooling rate assumptions for the prior and post pickup methods 37 2.19 Helium-4 droplet energy: bulk and surface vibration modes 38 2.20 Helium capture and emission probability and the Weisskopf formula . 39 2.21 Numerically calculated helium droplet cooling curves 41 2.22 Heating of 4He droplets from the integrated specific heat 42 3.1 The Coriolis force as seen by a rotating observed 45 3.2 The Coriolis force for a rotating mass oscillating in the radial direction . 45 3.3 Bending modes of a rotating triatomic molecule 46 3.4 Energy levels and selection rules for the stretching mode of CH4 47 3.5 Comparison of our experimental setup and one used by a previous group. 48 3.6 R(0), P(1), Q(1), and R(1) transitions of CH4 measured by Nauta and Miller 49 3.7 Experimental setup for the CH4 depletion experiment 50 3.8 The CW nozzle and nozzle compartment 51 3.9 The CW nozzle compartment and the closed cycle 4He fridge 52 3.10 Measurement of the flow rate of the CW nozzle 53 3.11 Thermometers and heaters of the nozzle compartment 53 vi List of Figures 3.12 The 4He droplet beam skimmer 54 3.13 The quadrupole mass filter 55 3.14 Quadrupole mass filter region of stability and resolution 56 3.15 High-q head and rf controller of the quadrupole mass analyzer 56 3.16 Filament, ion optics, and mass filter of the quadrupole mass analyzer . 57 3.17 Mass spectra before and after optimization 58 3.18 Bare tetracene LIF signals measured using the pulsed and CW nozzles . 59 3.19 Helium droplet mass spectra for nozzle temperatures from 6.4 to 20 K . 60 3.20 High resolution mass spectra for masses less than 45 amu 61 3.21 Chamber pressures as a function of nozzle temperature 62 3.22 Droplet and laser setup for the depletion experiment 63 3.23 Gas phase spectrum of the v3 vibrational band of methane using FTIR. 65 3.24 Aculight laser measurement of the 1)3 vibrational band of gas-phase methane 66 3.25 R(0), R(1), P(1), and Q(1) branches of the 1)3 vibrational band of methane 67 3.26 Setup of all of the depletion experiment components 68 3.27 Preliminary depletion signals from CH4-doped 4He droplets 70 vii Acknowledgements First, I thank my supervisor, Dr.