Université de Fribourg

Spectroscopy of Mn atoms isolated in solid ⁴He

Moroshkin, Peter ; Lebedev, Victor ; Weis, Antoine

In: The Journal of Chemical Physics, 2014, vol. 140, no. 21, p. 214314

We present an experimental study of the laser-induced luminescence spectra of Mn atoms in solid helium matrices. We observe transitions of the valence electron and of inner-shell electrons. We find that the Mn-He interaction perturbs the inner-shell transitions to a lesser extent than the valence-electron transitions. The observed lineshapes of the inner-shell transitions of Mn are similar to...

Université de Fribourg

Spectroscopy of gold atoms isolated in liquid and solid ⁴He matrices

Moroshkin, Peter ; Lebedev, Victor ; Weis, Antoine

In: The Journal of Chemical Physics, 2013, vol. 139, no. 10, p. 104307

We present a systematic experimental study of absorption and fluorescence spectra of Au atoms in bulk liquid and solid helium matrices. The results are compared to the spectra of Cu atoms studied earlier. We investigate the dependence of the observed spectral lineshapes on the helium pressure. The observed splitting of the 5d 106p − 5d 96s 2 transitions of Au in hcp solid He gives evidence for...

Université de Fribourg

Spectroscopy of alkali-metal atoms in dense supercritical ⁴He at low temperatures

Moroshkin, Peter ; Lebedev, Victor ; Weis, Antoine

In: Physical Review A, 2013, vol. 87, no. 2, p. 022513

We present an experimental study of laser-induced fluorescence spectra of Cs atoms embedded in superfluid and solid ⁴He, as well as in dense supercritical fluid He. The studied temperature range is increased with respect to earlier studies by the use of intense laser pulses for the transient local heating of the helium sample. The analysis of the experimental spectra is based on two different...

Université de Fribourg

Phonon generation in condensed ⁴He by laser-excited atomic bubbles

Moroshkin, Peter ; Lebedev, Victor ; Weis, Antoine

In: Europhysics Letters, 2011, vol. 96, no. 2, p. 26002

We discuss the interaction between nanometer-sized defects (atomic bubbles) and elementary excitations (phonons) in quantum fluids and solids. We observe that optical excitations in embedded metal atoms induce bubble expansions/contractions that create strongly localized phonon wave packets in the quantum matrix. We derive the structure and dynamics of these vibronic excitations from the...

Université de Fribourg

Spectroscopy of nonspherical atomic bubbles in solid Helium

Lebedev, Victor ; Moroshkin, Peter ; Weis, Antoine

In: The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2011, vol. 115, no. 25, p. 7169–7179

We analyze the effect of the host crystal symmetry on the optical spectra of the 6P1/2−6S1/2 and 6P3/2−6S1/2 transitions of atomic Cs in solid ⁴He matrices. In particular, we address the deformation of the bubble structures formed by Cs in such quantum crystals. We show that the anisotropy of the stiffness tensor leads...

Université de Fribourg

Spectroscopy of barium atoms in liquid and solid helium matrices

Lebedev, Victor ; Moroshkin, Peter ; Weis, Antoine

In: Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, 2011, vol. 84, no. 2, p. 022502

We present an exhaustive overview of optical absorption and laser-induced fluorescence lines of Ba atoms in liquid and solid helium matrices in visible and near-infrared spectral ranges. Due to the increased density of isolated atoms, we have found a large number of spectral lines that were not observed in condensed helium matrices before. We have also measured the lifetimes of metastable states....

Université de Fribourg

Atomic bubbles in impurity-stabilized solid ⁴He

Lebedev, Victor ; Moroshkin, Peter ; Weis, Antoine

In: Fizika Nizkikh Temperatur, 2010, vol. 35, no. 4, p. 391-395

The optical absorption and fluorescence spectra of alkali atoms isolated in liquid and solid He matrices depend on specific macroscopic matrix properties, such as their molar volume and (anisotropic) elasticity constants, and provide thus information about the quantum matrix. We have applied optical spectroscopy to investigate the properties of a recently discovered impurity-stabilized doped...

Université de Fribourg

Atomic and molecular defects in solid ⁴He

Moroshkin, Peter ; Hofer, Adrian ; Weis, Antoine

In: Physics Reports, 2008, vol. 469, no. 1, p. 1-57

The studies of defects formed by impurity particles (atoms, molecules, exciplexes, clusters, free electrons, and positive ions) embedded in liquid and solid ⁴He are reviewed. The properties of free electrons and neutral particles in condensed helium are described by the electron (atomic) bubble model, whereas for the positive ions a snowball structure is considered. We compare the properties of...

Université de Fribourg

Saturated absorption spectroscopy: Elimination of crossover resonances with the use of a nanocell

Sargsyan, A. ; Sarkisyan, D. ; Papoyan, A. ; Pashayan-Leroy, Y. ; Moroshkin, Peter ; Weis, Antoine ; Khanbekyan, A. ; Mariotti, E. ; Moi, L.

In: Laser Physics, 2008, vol. 18, no. 6, p. 749-755

It is demonstrated that the velocity-selective optical pumping/saturation resonances of the reduced absorption in a Rb vapor nanocell with thickness L = λ, 2λ, and 3λ (resonant wavelength λ = 780 nm) allow for the complete elimination of crossover (CO) resonances. We observe well-pronounced resonances corresponding to the F g = 3 → F e...

Université de Fribourg

Lifetime of the Cs 6P1/2 state in bcc and hcp solid ⁴He

Hofer, Adrian ; Moroshkin, Peter ; Ulzega, Simone ; Weis, Antoine

In: The European Physical Journal D, 2008, vol. 46, no. 1, p. 9-14

We present the first experimental study of time-resolved fluorescence from laser-excited Cs(6P1/2) atoms isolated in a solid ⁴He matrix. The results are compared to the predictions of the bubble model including the interaction of the atomic dipole with its radiation reflected at the bubble interface. Our results show that in liquid He as well as in the body-centered cubic (bcc)...