Rotating mixed 3He-4He nanodroplets

Abstract

Mixed 3He−4He droplets may acquire angular momentum during their passage through the nozzle of the experimental apparatus, cooling down and undergoing isotopic segregation, developing a 3He crust surrounding a superfluid 4He core. Within density functional theory, we investigate their stability and the relations between their angular momenta and their shapes. We uncover a variety of behaviors where the interplay between the superfluid 4He core and the normal-fluid 3He coating leads to a scenario that both bears analogies with viscous rotating drops and displays new features such as configurations with a fissioned or three-lobed 4He core, or with multiply charged vortices.