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Science 14 June 1996:
Vol. 272. no. 5268, pp. 1631 - 1634
DOI: 10.1126/science.272.5268.1631
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Reports

High-Resolution Molecular Spectroscopy of van der Waals Clusters in Liquid Helium Droplets

Matthias Hartmann, Roger E. Miller, * J. Peter Toennies, dagger Andrej F. Vilesov

Small van der Waals clusters of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) and mixed SF6-rare gas clusters were prepared inside large droplets of helium-4, with each droplet consisting of about 4000 helium atoms. A diode laser was used to measure the high-resolution infrared spectra of these clusters in the vicinity of the nu 3 vibrational mode. In all cases rotational structure was observed, indicating that the embedded species rotate nearly freely, although they had been cooled to a temperature of 0.37 kelvin. The results indicate that helium droplets are probably superfluid and thereby provide a uniquely cold yet gentle matrix for high-resolution spectroscopy.

Max-Planck-Institut für Strömungsforschung, Bunsenstraße 10, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany.
* Permanent address: Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
dagger To whom correspondence should be addressed.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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Evidence for Superfluidity in Para-Hydrogen Clusters Inside Helium-4 Droplets at 0.15 Kelvin.
S. Grebenev, B. Sartakov, J. P. Toennies, and A. F. Vilesov (2000)
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Nonequilibrium Self-Assembly of Long Chains of Polar Molecules in Superfluid Helium.
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Superfluidity Within a Small Helium-4 Cluster: The Microscopic Andronikashvili Experiment.
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