E. V. Lebedeva

Long-wavelength structure on a charged liquid surface

The problem of the equilibrium form of a charged surface of a dielectric liquid in a strong electric field, such that a flat surface becomes unstable, is studied. A periodic long-wavelength structure with a small amplitude can arise when the gap between the surface and a charged electrode is small compared with the capillary length and the charge completely screens the electric field. The equilibrium form of the surface is calculated assuming that the resulting wave is one-dimensional. The effect of the boundary conditions at the vessel walls on the dependence of the amplitude of the standing wave on the applied voltage is estimated. It is shown that this dependence is very sensitive to the conditions of contact between the vessel walls and the liquid. The possibility is discussed of using the theory developed in this paper to explain the experimental results obtained with a charged liquid-hydrogen surface.

Charged macroparticles over liquid helium

An analysis of properties of a plasma with macroparticles (dust plasma) at cryogenic temperatures led us to the need to account for the effects of helium condensation on these particles. Micrometer particles in the saturated helium vapor are coated with a film of liquid helium with the thickness of about 100 A. This limits their electronic charge, since the helium film is weakly permeable to electrons. The exceptions are clusters of Cs, Rb and K, which are not wetted by helium.

Diffusion transport of negative ions through the interface between cryogenic liquids

A theory of electron bubble transport through the interface between cryogenic liquids is developed based on a new approach to calculating the potential of interaction of a bubble with the interface. The theory is in good agreement with experiments on the electric-field dependence of the potential barrier near the interface between liquid 4He, 3He, and vacuum, as well as at the interface between 3He and 4He saturated solutions. It is found that the interaction potential dependence on the distance between the electron bubble and the interface is isotopically invariant to three versions of such an interface. The dependence of the lifetime of negative ions in 4He and 3He on the temperature and electric field has been determined using the Kramers theory.

Electron mobility on the surface of liquid Helium: influence of surface level atoms and depopulation of lowest subbands

The temperature dependence of electron mobility is examined. We calculate the contribution to the electron scattering rate from the surface level atoms (SLAs), proposed in [10]. This contribution is substantial at low temperatures T < 0.5, when the He vapor concentration is exponentially small. We also study the effect of depopulation of the lowest energy subband, which leads to an increase in the electron mobility at high temperature. The results explain certain long-standing discrepancies between the existing theory and experiment on electron mobility on the surface of liquid helium.We calculate the contribution to the electron scattering rate from the surface level atoms (SLA), proposed in [A.M. Dyugaev, P.D. Grigoriev, JETP Lett. 78, 466 (2003)]. The inclusion of these states into account was sufficient to explain the long-standing puzzles in the temperature dependence of the surface tension of both He isotopes and to reach a very good agreement between theory and experiment. We calculate the contribution from these SLA to the surface electron scattering rate and explain some features in the temperature dependence of the surface electron mobility. This contribution is essential at low temperature

Temperature dependence of the spectrum of electrons levitating above solid hydrogen

T<0.5

Bound states of an electron and a macroscopic cluster at a liquid helium surface

when the He vapor concentration is exponentially small. For an accurate calculation of the electron mobility one also needs to consider the influence of the clamping electric field on the surface electron wave function and the temperature dependence of the He3 chemical potential.

New qualitative results of the atomic theory

A theory of photoresonance transitions for the electrons localized above the solid H2 surface is proposed on the basis of the experimental data obtained by V. V. Zav’yalov and I. I. Smol’yaninov [Pis’ma Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 44, 142 (1986); Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 92, 339 (1987); Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 94, 307 (1988)] and a simple model of condensed hydrogen, H2. A new explanation is offered for the strong dependence of the transition frequency v on the hydrogen vapor pressure revealed in the above-cited works. In contrast to the notions that were proposed by V. V. Zav’yalov and I. I. Smol’yaninov [Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 92, 339 (1987); Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 94, 307 (1988)]; and V. B. Shikin and S. N. Nazin [Pis’ma Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 82, 752 (2005)] and based on the effects of the quantum refraction of electrons by hydrogen vapor atoms, the temperature dependence of the frequency ν = ν (T) is attributed here to the H2 vapor inhomogeneity. The nonanalytic dependence of ν on the vapor density nν, ν(nν) − ν(0) ∼ nνγ ∼ e−Δ/T, γ ≅ 0.56 has been revealed from the experimental data. The activation energy Δ corresponds to the “incomplete evaporation” of solid hydrogen [see J. I. Frenkel, Z. Phys. 26, 37 (1924); Kinetic Theory of Liquids (Nauka, Leningrad, 1945; Clarendon, Oxford, 1946)]. The parameter Δ is lower than the energy of the “complete evaporation” of solid H2 equal to 92.6 K.

Rules of correspondence in atomic physics

In a strong electric field, there are bound states of an electron at the surface of liquid helium, interacting with a large cluster of atoms in the bulk of liquid. This phenomenon is related to long-range interaction between the electron and the dipole moment of the cluster. The electron, holding the cluster under the liquid surface, is localized at this surface. One electron is capable of binding a cluster of up to 106 atoms. The value of the binding energy may reach up to several kelvins.

Negative ions at an interface between liquid helium mixtures

The polarizability α of many atoms and positive ions is related to their energy gap Δ and valence m by the expression αΔ2 ≅ m (in atomic units). The parameter Δ corresponds to a dipolar transition from the ground state to the first excited P state without a change in the principal quantum number n. This relation holds for univalent (m = 1) Na, K, Rb, Cs, Fr and bivalent (m = 2) Mg, Ca, Zn, Sr, Cd, Ba, Yb, Hg atoms. The above relation agrees with the experiment for positive ions Mg+ and Ca+ (m = 1) and Al+ and Ga+ (m = 2). The polarizability has been found for atoms and ions of the type Zn+, In+, Tl+, for which experimental data are unavailable. A method of calculating α for ions of the types C++, Al++, Si++ and Si+++, P+++, As+++ has been suggested based on the approximate relation α ≅(2/3〈r2〉0)2/m with the parameter 〈r2〉0 expressed in terms of the valence m, the charge number q of the atomic or ionic residue, and the ionization potential