Interplay of weak interactions in the atom-by-atom condensation of xenon within quantum boxes

Sylwia Nowakowska (), Aneliia Wäckerlin, Shigeki Kawai, Toni Ivas, Jan Nowakowski, Shadi Fatayer, Christian Wäckerlin, Thomas Nijs, Ernst Meyer, Jonas Björk, Meike Stöhr, Lutz H. Gade () and Thomas A. Jung ()
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Sylwia Nowakowska: University of Basel
Aneliia Wäckerlin: University of Basel
Shigeki Kawai: University of Basel
Toni Ivas: University of Basel
Jan Nowakowski: Laboratory for Micro- and Nanotechnology, Paul Scherrer Institute
Shadi Fatayer: University of Basel
Christian Wäckerlin: Laboratory for Micro- and Nanotechnology, Paul Scherrer Institute
Thomas Nijs: University of Basel
Ernst Meyer: University of Basel
Jonas Björk: Chemistry and Biology, IFM, Linköping University
Meike Stöhr: Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen
Lutz H. Gade: Anorganisch-Chemisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg
Thomas A. Jung: Laboratory for Micro- and Nanotechnology, Paul Scherrer Institute

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Condensation processes are of key importance in nature and play a fundamental role in chemistry and physics. Owing to size effects at the nanoscale, it is conceptually desired to experimentally probe the dependence of condensate structure on the number of constituents one by one. Here we present an approach to study a condensation process atom-by-atom with the scanning tunnelling microscope, which provides a direct real-space access with atomic precision to the aggregates formed in atomically defined ‘quantum boxes’. Our analysis reveals the subtle interplay of competing directional and nondirectional interactions in the emergence of structure and provides unprecedented input for the structural comparison with quantum mechanical models. This approach focuses on—but is not limited to—the model case of xenon condensation and goes significantly beyond the well-established statistical size analysis of clusters in atomic or molecular beams by mass spectrometry.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7071

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