Femtosecond-and-atom-resolved solvation dynamics of a Na$^+$ ion in a helium nanodroplet

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Main Authors: Albrechtsen, Simon H., Christensen, Jeppe K., Petersen, Christian E., Schouder, Constant A., Carchi-Villalta, Pedro Javier, Sánchez-Pérez, Iker, Bartolomei, Massimiliano, González-Lezana, Tomás, Pirani, Fernando, Stapelfeldt, Henrik
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Albrechtsen, Simon H.
Christensen, Jeppe K.
Petersen, Christian E.
Schouder, Constant A.
Carchi-Villalta, Pedro Javier
Sánchez-Pérez, Iker
Bartolomei, Massimiliano
González-Lezana, Tomás
Pirani, Fernando
Stapelfeldt, Henrik
author_facet Albrechtsen, Simon H.
Christensen, Jeppe K.
Petersen, Christian E.
Schouder, Constant A.
Carchi-Villalta, Pedro Javier
Sánchez-Pérez, Iker
Bartolomei, Massimiliano
González-Lezana, Tomás
Pirani, Fernando
Stapelfeldt, Henrik
contents Recently, it was shown how the primary steps of solvation of a single Na$^+$ ion, instantly created at the surface of a nanometer-sized droplet of liquid helium, can be followed at the atomic level [Albrectsen et al. Nature $\textbf{623}$, 319 (2023)]. This involved measuring, with femtosecond time resolution, the gradual attachment of individual He atoms to the Na$^+$ ion as well as the energy dissipated from the local region of the ion. In the current work, we provide a more comprehensive and detailed description of the experimental findings of the solvation dynamics, and present an improved Poisson-statistical analysis of the time-resovled yields of the solvation complexes, Na$^+$He$_n$. For droplets containing an average of 5200 He atoms, this analysis gives a binding rate of $1.84\pm0.09$ atoms/ps for the binding of the first five He atoms to the Na$^+$ ion. Also, thanks to accurate heoretical values for the evaporation energies of the Na$^+$He$_n$ complexes, obtained by Path Integral Monte Carlo methos using a new potential energy surface presented here for the first time, we improved the determination of the time-dependent removal of the solvation energy from the region around the sodium ion. We find that it follows Newton's law of cooling for the first 6 ps. Measurements were carried out for three different average droplet sizes, $\langle N_D\rangle = $ 9000, 5200 and 3600 helium atoms, and differences between these results are discussed.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_11783
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Femtosecond-and-atom-resolved solvation dynamics of a Na$^+$ ion in a helium nanodroplet
Albrechtsen, Simon H.
Christensen, Jeppe K.
Petersen, Christian E.
Schouder, Constant A.
Carchi-Villalta, Pedro Javier
Sánchez-Pérez, Iker
Bartolomei, Massimiliano
González-Lezana, Tomás
Pirani, Fernando
Stapelfeldt, Henrik
Atomic and Molecular Clusters
Recently, it was shown how the primary steps of solvation of a single Na$^+$ ion, instantly created at the surface of a nanometer-sized droplet of liquid helium, can be followed at the atomic level [Albrectsen et al. Nature $\textbf{623}$, 319 (2023)]. This involved measuring, with femtosecond time resolution, the gradual attachment of individual He atoms to the Na$^+$ ion as well as the energy dissipated from the local region of the ion. In the current work, we provide a more comprehensive and detailed description of the experimental findings of the solvation dynamics, and present an improved Poisson-statistical analysis of the time-resovled yields of the solvation complexes, Na$^+$He$_n$. For droplets containing an average of 5200 He atoms, this analysis gives a binding rate of $1.84\pm0.09$ atoms/ps for the binding of the first five He atoms to the Na$^+$ ion. Also, thanks to accurate heoretical values for the evaporation energies of the Na$^+$He$_n$ complexes, obtained by Path Integral Monte Carlo methos using a new potential energy surface presented here for the first time, we improved the determination of the time-dependent removal of the solvation energy from the region around the sodium ion. We find that it follows Newton's law of cooling for the first 6 ps. Measurements were carried out for three different average droplet sizes, $\langle N_D\rangle = $ 9000, 5200 and 3600 helium atoms, and differences between these results are discussed.
title Femtosecond-and-atom-resolved solvation dynamics of a Na$^+$ ion in a helium nanodroplet
topic Atomic and Molecular Clusters
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.11783