Abstract
We study the reflection of very slow hydrogen atoms from the surface of a liquid helium bath. Sticking of an atom on the bath may occur via the excitation of a surface wave, called a ripplon. We show that this probability vanishes at low temperatures, which can ultimately lead to a specular reflection of the atoms on the surface.
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Notes
- 1.
The summation over q is limited to \(q<q_{\max }\) where \(q_{\max }\) is of the order of a fraction of an inverse Ångstrom. For larger values of q, hence smaller wavelengths, the description of the vicinity of the surface in terms of a fluid does not hold any longer.
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Basdevant, JL., Dalibard, J. (2019). Quantum Reflection of Atoms from a Surface. In: The Quantum Mechanics Solver. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13724-3_30
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13724-3_30
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Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-13723-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-13724-3
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