Related papers: Nucleation, solvation and boiling of helium excime…
We present new collisional-radiative models (CRMs) for helium in the quiescent solar corona, and predict the emissivities of the He and He$^+$ lines to be observed by DKIST, Solar Orbiter, and Proba-3. We discuss in detail the rates we…
Even quiescent solar prominences may become active and sometimes erupt. These events are occasionally linked to coronal mass ejections. However we know very little about the plasma properties during the activation and eruption processes. We…
We report studies of solid helium contained inside a torsional oscillator, at temperatures between 1.07K and 1.87K. We grew single crystals inside the oscillator using commercially pure $^4$He and $^3$He-$^4$He mixtures containing 100 ppm…
We have used a Hartree-type electron-helium potential together with a density functional description of liquid $^4$He and $^3$He to study the explosion of electron bubbles submitted to a negative pressure. The critical pressure at which…
We have measured the temperature dependence of the time of flight of helium excimer molecules He2* in superfluid 4He and find that the molecules behave ballistically below 100mK and exhibit Brownian motion above 200 mK. In the intermediate…
Mixed $^3$He-$^4$He droplets created by hydrodynamic instability of a cryogenic fluid-jet may acquire angular momentum during their passage through the nozzle of the experimental apparatus. These free-standing droplets cool down to very low…
Below $\sim 630$~mK, the \4he atom mass flux, $F$, that passes through a cell filled with solid hcp \4he in the pressure range 25.6 - 26.4~bar, rises with falling temperature and at a temperature $T_d$ the flux drops sharply. The flux above…
The compressibility of solid helium (3He and 4He) in the hcp and fcc phases has been studied by path-integral Monte Carlo. Simulations were carried out in both canonical (NVT) and isothermal-isobaric (NPT) ensembles at temperatures between…
We have carried out torsional oscillator experiments on solid $^4$He at temperatures between 1.3K and 1.9K. We discovered phenomena similar to those observed at temperatures below 0.2K, which currently are under debate regarding their…
We have studied the interaction of metastable $^4$He$_2^*$ excimer molecules with quantized vortices in superfluid $^4$He in the zero temperature limit. The vortices were generated by either rotation or ion injection. The trapping diameter…
Metastable He$_{2}^{*}$ excimer molecules have been utilized as tracer particles of the normal component in superfluid $^4$He (He II) which can be imaged via laser-induced fluorescence. These excimer molecules form tiny bubbles in He II and…
Scattering and ionizing cross sections and rates are calculated for ultracold collisions between metastable helium atoms using a fully quantum-mechanical close-coupled formalism. Homonuclear collisions of the bosonic ${}^{4}$He$^{*}…
The symmetry-breaking first-order phase transition between superfluid phases $^3$He-A and $^3$He-B can be triggered extrinsically by ionising radiation or heterogeneous nucleation arising from the details of the sample cell construction.…
Using synchrotron radiation we simultaneously ionize and excite one helium atom of a helium dimer (He_2) in a shakeup process. The populated states of the dimer ion (i.e. He^[*+](n = 2; 3)-He) are found to deexcite via interatomic coulombic…
Two different ab initio potential energy surfaces are employed to investigate the efficiency of the rotational excitation channels for the polar molecular ion HeH$^+$ interacting with He atoms. We further use them to investigate the quantum…
Liquid helium under negative pressures represents a unique possibility for studying nucleation and growth dynamics of cavities at low temperatures down to absolute zero. We analyze the growth dynamics of cavities and determine the…
Recent observations and theoretical investigations of neutron stars indicate that their atmospheres consist not of hydrogen or iron but possibly other elements such as helium. We calculate the ionization and dissociation equilibrium of…
We have made pressure and NMR measurements during the evolution of phase separation in solid helium isotopic mixtures. Our observations indicate clearly all three stages of the homogeneous nucleation - growth process: 1) creation of…
Measurements of the helium-cluster breakup and neutron removal cross sections for neutron-rich Be isotopes A=10-12,14 are presented. These have been studied in the 30 to 42 MeV/u energy range where reaction measurements are proposed to be…
Molecules immersed in liquid helium are excellent probes of superfluidity. Their electronic, vibrational and rotational dynamics provide valuable clues about the superfluid at the nanoscale. Here we report on the experimental study of the…