R. H. Scheicher(1), T. P. Das(1), K. Ishida(2), T. Matsuzaki(2),
S. N. Nakamura(2), N. Kawamura(2), K. Nagamine(2,3)
(1) Department of Physics, State University of New York at Albany,
Albany, NY 12222, USA
(2) Muon Science Laboratory, RIKEN (The Institute of Physical and
Chemical Research), Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
(3) Meson Science Laboratory, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization,
Oho 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801, Japan
We are currently investigating the influence of vibrational effects on the strength of trapping of He+ in solid hydrogen. Such effects can lead to an isotopic dependence of the trapping energy associated with the hydrogen molecules and He+ ion. At the present time, our focus is on the isotope effect for 3He+ and 4He+, which we are studying through the vibrational motion of the trapped He+ ion in the potential it experiences as it moves about its equilibrium position. The potential is being obtained from Hartree-Fock Cluster calculations [1] of the total energy of the cluster of He+ ion and its nearest neighbor hydrogen molecules as a function of the displacement of the He+ ion from its trapped position. If the isotope effects associated with the He+ ion turn out to be important, we shall also investigate the corresponding effect associated with deuterium and tritium atoms in the hydrogen molecules.
[1] Abstract entitled "Theory for Relative Strengths of Trapping of
He+ Ions in Solid, Liquid and Gaseous Hydrogen" at this
Conference by R. H. Scheicher et al.