arXiv subjects

Daniel J. Merthe

Publications and source records attributed to Daniel J. Merthe.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2019

Direct detection of polar structure formation in helium nanodroplets by beam deflection measurements

Long-range intermolecular forces are able to steer polar molecules submerged in superfluid helium nanodroplets into highly polar metastable configurations. We demonstrate that the presence of such special structures can be identified, in a direct and determinative way, by electrostatic deflection of the doped nanodroplet beam. The measurement also establishes the structures' electric dipole moments. In consequence, the introduced approach is complementary to spectroscopic studies of low-temperature molecular assembly reactions. It is enabled by the fact that within the cold superfluid matrix the molecular dipoles become nearly completely oriented by the applied electric field. As a result, the massive (tens of thousands of helium atoms) nanodroplets undergo significant deflections. The method is illustrated here by an application to dimers and trimers of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) molecules. We interpret the experimental results with ab initio theory, mapping the potential energy surface of DMSO complexes and simulating their low temperature aggregation dynamics.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv2019

Oriented polar molecules trapped in cold helium nanodroplets: Electrostatic deflection, size separation, and charge migration

Helium nanodroplets doped with polar molecules are studied by electrostatic deflection. This broadly applicable method allows even polyatomic molecules to attain sub-Kelvin temperatures and nearly full orientation in the field. The resulting intense force from the field gradient strongly deflects even droplets with tens of thousands of atoms, the most massive neutral systems studied by beam "deflectometry." We use the deflections to extract droplet size distributions. Moreover, since each host droplet deflects according to its mass, spatial filtering of the deflected beam translates into size filtering of neutral fragile nanodroplets. As an example, we measure the dopant ionization probability as a function of droplet radius and determine the mean free path for charge hopping through the helium matrix. The technique will enable separation of doped and neat nanodroplets and size-dependent spectroscopic studies.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv2016

The transparency of graphene and other direct-gap two dimensional materials

Graphene and other two-dimensional materials display remarkable optical properties, including a simple light transparency of $T \approx 1 - πα$ for light in the visible region. Most theoretical rationalizations of this "universal" opacity employ a model coupling light to the electron's crystal momentum and put emphasis on the linear dispersion of the graphene bands. However, such a formulation of interband absorption is not allowable within band structure theory, because it conflates the crystal momentum label with the canonical momentum operator. We show that the physical origin of the optical behavior of graphene can be explained within a straightforward picture with the correct use of canonical momentum coupling. Its essence lies in the two-dimensional character of the density of states rather than in the precise dispersion relation, and therefore the discussion is applicable to other systems such as semiconductor membranes. At higher energies the calculation predicts a peak corresponding to a van Hove singularity as well as a specific asymmetry in the absorption spectrum of graphene, in agreement with previous results.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Electrostatic deflection of a molecular beam of massive neutral particles: Fully field-oriented polar molecules within superfluid nanodroplets

Electric deflection measurements on liquid helium nanodroplets doped with individual polar molecules demonstrate that the cold superfluid matrix enables full orientation of the molecular dipole along the external field. This translates into a deflection force which is increased enormously by comparison with typical deflection experiments, and it becomes possible to measurably deflect neutral doped droplets with masses of tens to hundreds of thousands of Daltons. This approach permits preparation and study of continuous fluxes of fully oriented polar molecules and is broadly and generally applicable, including to complex and biological molecules. It is shown that the dipole moments of internally cryogenically cold molecules can be directly determined from a deflection measurement on the doped nanodroplet beam.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv2015

Proton transfer in histidine-tryptophan heterodimers embedded in helium droplets

We used cold helium droplets as nano-scale reactors to form and ionize, by electron bombardment and charge transfer, aromatic amino acid heterodimers of histidine with tryptophan, methyl-tryptophan, and indole. The molecular interaction occurring through an N-H...N hydrogen bond leads to a proton transfer from the indole group of tryptophan to the imidazole group of histidine in a radical cationic environment.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv2013

A Sampling Theorem for Computational Diffraction

A major challenge of many diffraction calculations, using some form of the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld formulas, is the integration of a highly oscillatory integrand. Here we derive a potentially useful alternative form of solution to the Helmholtz equation, which implies a sampling theorem for the evaluation of a diffracted scalar field. This alternative solution bears close resemblance to the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction formulas, but instead incorporates the boundary conditions digitally. Hence, the integration is replaced by a simple summation. This formulation may be more efficient for accurate computer-based calculation of the diffracted scalar field.

physics.optics↗