2020/12/31 by W. T. Geng, Geng, W. T., Zhan, Q.
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Fusion materials and technologies #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #nanoparticles nucleation surface interactions
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2012.15402
openalex publication_date 2020/12/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Helium ions implanted into metals can evolve into ordered bubbles isomorphic to the host lattice. Long-range elastic interaction is generally believed to drive the formation of bubble superlattice, but little is known about the thermodynamics at the very initial stage. Our first-principles calculations demonstrate that in molybdenum, Friedel oscillations induced by individual helium generate both potential barriers and wells for helium clustering at short He-He distances. Such repulsion and attraction at high concentration provide a thermodynamic diving force to assist lining up randomly distributed He atoms into ordered bubbles. Friedel oscillations might have general impact on solute-solute interactions in alloys.