Hydrogen clusters that remain fluid at low temperature

Phys Rev Lett. 2008 Nov 14;101(20):205301. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.205301. Epub 2008 Nov 13.

Abstract

Superfluidity of hydrogen, predicted three decades ago, continues to elude experimental observation, due to the high freezing temperature of H2 at T=13.8 K. Here, large para-H2 clusters are obtained in a cryogenic pulsed free jet expansion and are studied via nonlinear Raman spectroscopy. Clusters formed from neat pH_{2} are solid as evidenced by the characteristic splitting of the rotational S0(0) line. However, clusters formed of highly diluted pH_{2} (< or = 1%) in He have a single S0(0) line and remain liquid at the estimated superfluid transition temperature of T=1-2 K.