Electron diffraction of foam-like clusters between xenon and helium in superfluid helium droplets

Abstract

We report electron diffraction results of xenon clusters formed in superfluid helium droplets, with droplet sizes in the range of 105–106 atoms/droplet and xenon clusters from a few to a few hundred atoms. Under four different experimental conditions, the diffraction profiles can be fitted using four atom pairs of Xe. For the two experiments performed with higher helium contributions, the fittings with one pair of Xe–He and three pairs of Xe–Xe distances are statistically preferred compared with four pairs of Xe–Xe distances, while the other two experiments exhibit the opposite preference. In addition to the shortest pair distances corresponding to the van der Waals distances of Xe–He and Xe–Xe, the longer distances are in the range of the different arrangements of Xe–He–Xe and Xe–He–He–Xe. The number of independent atom pairs is too many for the small xenon clusters and too few for the large clusters. We consider these results evidence of xenon foam structures, with helium atoms stuck between Xe atoms. This possibility is confirmed by helium time-dependent density functional calculations. When the impact parameter of the second xenon atom is a few Angstroms or longer, the second xenon atom fails to penetrate the solvation shell of the first atom, resulting in a dimer with a few He atoms in between the two Xe atoms. In addition, our results for larger droplets point toward a multi-center growth process of dopant atoms or molecules, which is in agreement with previous proposals from theoretical calculations and experimental results.