Electron thermalization length in solid para-hydrogen at low-temperature

A F Borghesani; G Carugno; G Messineo; J Pazzini

doi:10.1063/5.0163776

Electron thermalization length in solid para-hydrogen at low-temperature

J Chem Phys. 2023 Sep 14;159(10):104501. doi: 10.1063/5.0163776.

Authors

A F Borghesani¹, G Carugno², G Messineo³, J Pazzini⁴

Affiliations

¹ CNISM Unit, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Università degli Studi di Padova and Istituto Nazionale Fisica Nucleare, Sez. Padova, Padova, Italy.
² Istituto Nazionale Fisica Nucleare, Sez. Padova, Padova, Italy.
³ Istituto Nazionale Fisica Nucleare, Sez. Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Industrial Engineering, and Department of Information Engineering, Università degli Studi di Padova and Istituto Nazionale Fisica Nucleare, Sez. Padova, Padova, Italy.

PMID: 37694752
DOI: 10.1063/5.0163776

Abstract

We report the first ever measurements of the thermalization length of low-energy electrons injected into solid para-hydrogen at a temperature T ≈ 2.8 K. The use of the pulsed Townsend photoinjection technique has allowed us to investigate the behavior of quasi-free electrons rather than of massive, slow negative charges, as reported in all previous literature. We have found an average thermalization length ⟨z0⟩ = 26.1 nm, which is three to five times longer than that in liquid helium at the same temperature.