Dynamics of Ions in Superfluid Helium Nanodroplets

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In this award, funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Prof. Kevin K. Lehmann of the University of Virginia and his postdoctoral and graduate student colleagues will use liquid helium nanodroplets as unique laboratories for studying the ways in which molecules behave in confined quantum fluids. Lehmann and his group plan on studying the behavior of ions in size-selected helium droplets to search for the presence of novel fluid effects (vortex rings or rotons). In addition, Lehmann and his group will use the nanodroplet as a calorimeter -- measuring the energetics of exothermic processes by detecting the evaporation of helium atoms. Other experiments plan on studying the poorly-understood relaxation dynamics of molecules with excited rotational, vibrational and spin degrees of freedom in these quantum fluids.Helium nanodroplets are an unusual quantum environment whose behavior is still poorly understood. The results of these investigations will provide crucial benchmarks for theorists interested in modeling these systems. The work in calorimetry is of fundamental importance since it allows thermochemical information to be determined directly -- a molecule at a time. The students and postdoctoral fellows working on this project will be provided with broad interdisciplinary training at the interface of chemistry and condensed matter physics.