Formation times of RbHe exciplexes on the surface of superfluid versus normal fluid helium nanodroplets

Nanodroplets of either superfluid 4He or normal fluid 3He are doped with Rb atoms that are bound to the surface of the droplets. The formation of RbHe exciplexes upon 5P(3/2) excitation is monitored in real time by femtosecond pump-probe techniques. We find formation times of 8.5 and 11.6 ps for Rb 4He and Rb 3He, respectively. A comparison to calculations based on a tunneling model introduced for these systems by Reho et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 113, 9694 (2000)]] shows that the proposed mechanism cannot account for our findings. Apparently, a different relaxation dynamics of the superfluid opposed to the normal fluid surface is responsible for the observed formation times.