Experimental and theoretical study of the radial density distributions of large He-3 droplets - art. no. 184513

The integral cross sections of large He-3 droplets and the number of atoms in the corresponding droplets ((N) over bar =2x10(3)-2 x10(4) atoms) have b een measured in molecular-beam scattering experiments. The experimental res ults are in very good agreement with integral cross sections calculated fro m the radial density distributions predicted from density-functional theory calculations. The experimentally confirmed theoretical 10-90% surface thic knesses vary between 8.0 Angstrom ((N) over bar =10(3)) and 7.6 Angstrom (( 4) over bar =4x10(4)) and are about 30% larger than calculated for He-4 dro plets of similar sizes.