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X-ray diffractive imaging of highly ionized helium nanodroplets

Alexandra J. Feinberg1, Felix Laimer2, Rico Mayro P. Tanyag3, Björn Senfftleben4,5, Yevheniy Ovcharenko4, Simon Dold4, Michael Gatchell2,6, Sean M. O. O’Connell-Lopez1, Swetha Erukala1 et al.

Catherine A. Saladrigas7,8, Benjamin W. Toulson7, Andreas Hoffmann5, Ben Kamerin9, Rebecca Boll4, Alberto De Fanis4, Patrik Grychtol4, Tommaso Mazza4, Jacobo Montano4, Kiana Setoodehnia4, David Lomidze4, Robert Hartmann10, Philipp Schmidt4, Anatoli Ulmer3, Alessandro Colombo11, Michael Meyer4, Thomas Möller3, Daniela Rupp5,11,*, Oliver Gessner7,†, Paul Scheier2,‡, and Andrey F. Vilesov1,9,§

  • 1Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
  • 2Department of Physics, Universität Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
  • 3Institut für Optik und Atomare Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany
  • 4European X-ray Free Electron Laser, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany
  • 5Max-Born Institut for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy, 12489 Berlin, Germany
  • 6Department of Physics, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
  • 7Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Berkeley, California 94720, USA
  • 8Department of Chemistry, University of California Berkeley, California 94720, USA
  • 9Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
  • 10PNSensor GmbH, 81739 München, Germany
  • 11Laboratory for Solid State Physics, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland

  • *ruppda@phys.ethz.ch
  • †ogessner@lbl.gov
  • ‡paul.scheier@uibk.ac.at
  • §vilesov@usc.edu
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Phys. Rev. Research 4, L022063 – Published 21 June, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.L022063

Abstract

Finding the lowest energy configuration of N unit charges on a sphere, known as Thomson's problem, is a long-standing query which has only been studied via numerical simulations. We present its physical realization using multiply charged He nanodroplets. The charge positions are determined by x-ray coherent diffractive imaging with Xe as a contrast agent. In neutral droplets, filaments resulting from Xe atoms condensing on quantum vortices are observed. Unique to charged droplets, however, Xe clusters that condense on charges are distributed on the surface in lattice-like structures, introducing He droplets as experimental model systems for the study of Thomson's problem.

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References (37)

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Phys. Rev. Research 4, L022063– Published 21 June, 2022
  • Received 2 February 2022
  • Revised 8 April 2022
  • Accepted 11 May 2022
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