Binding Energy of He Dimer in Nanotubes: Effect of Adsorption Potential

• Published in: Journal of the Physical Society of Japan Vol. 80; no. 11; pp. 114602 - 114602-5
• Main Authors: Yamashita, Kohei, Hirashima, Dai S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo The Physical Society of Japan 15-11-2011; Physical Society of Japan
• Subjects: Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Materials science; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanotubes; Physics; diffusion Monte Carlo method; Ground states; Nanotubes; dimer; Nanoporous materials; helium; Hardness; Monte Carlo methods; Adsorption; Binding energy; Helium 3; Size effect; Wave functions; Nanopore
• ISSN: 0031-9015; 1347-4073
• DOI: 10.1143/JPSJ.80.114602

Dimer formation by He atoms confined in a narrow tube is studied and the effect of adsorption potential is clarified. The results are well explained in terms of the effective radius $\langle \rho \rangle$ and the width of the single-particle ground-state wave function $\Delta\rho$. For 3 He, adsorption potential promotes dimer formation when $\langle \rho\rangle \lesssim 3$ $Å$, but is unfavorable when $\langle \rho \rangle \gtrsim 3$ $Å$. We discuss the recent experimental results for 3 He atoms confined in nanopores in light of the present results.