Experimental And Theoretical Study Of The Radial Density Distributions Of Large He-3 Droplets

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 been measured in molecular-beam scattering experiments. The experimental results are in very good agreement with integral cross sections calculated from the radial density distributions predicted from density-functional theory calculations. The experimentally confirmed theoretical 10-90% surface thicknesses 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 droplets of similar sizes.