Prof. Vitaly Kresin: Beam deflection studies of polar and magnetic molecules and clusters entrapped in helium nanodroplets

We cordially invite you to the lecture of Prof. Vitaly Kresin.

Helium nanodroplets doped with polar molecules and molecular clusters can be very substantially deflected by an external electric field, despite having masses of tens of thousands of atomic units. Such an intense deflecting force derives from the fact that within the cryogenically cold (0.4 K) superfluid matrix, the embedded dipoles become vibration-free and almost fully field-oriented. A deflection measurement can directly provide information about the presence and magnitude of permanent dipole moments, and therefore about the structure of molecular assemblies formed inside the nanodroplet. Conveniently, the technique is quite general and can be applied to molecules of varying size and complexity. Furthermore, recently we extended the method to Stern-Gerlach-type magnetic deflections of helium nanodroplets containing dopants with magnetic moments.