An understanding of liquid helium's quantum properties is necessary to understand both the spectroscopy of helium-solvated impurities and the physics of helium-droplet-mediated deposition. From a theoretical perspective, quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) techniques have traditionally been the gold standard for modeling quantum fluids like liquid helium; however, the development of density functionals for helium systems allows calculations to be performed with greatly-reduced computational cost. The most basic of these functionals uses a Skyrme-type (zero-range) potential with moderate success, but improvements incorporating non-locality have been made that provide a more accurate description of the quantum system. One such non-local density functional (NLDF) currently under investigation is the Orsay-Paris functional. It has already exhibited promise as an adept model for inhomogenous systems by describing 4He solvation layers adsorbed on an attractive surface � a result unseen with the more basic Skyrme-type functionals. We present such density functional results for some model 4He systems, including supported planar films and spherical droplets containing impurities, using both Skyrme-type and nonlocal potentials.  Our goals are to understand how different helium density functionals treat moderately inhomogeneous systems and to provide results for comparison against future QMC studies.

Density functional calculations of an inhomogenous <sup>4</sup>He system

247th National Meeting (2014)

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Density functional calculations of an inhomogenous 4He system

Density functional calculations of an inhomogenous ⁴He system