OK, so if I understand you correctly, since (as your cite states) this supersonic cooling occurs in all gasses (not just xenon), the "magic" of xenon really boils down to two things:
1) The way it ionizes. 2) Its tendency to form van der Waals molecules. Is that correct? Another question: You discuss radio frequency effects to create coherent motion, as an alternative to nozzles, but I didn't see that discussed in your cite. Did I miss something? On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 9:26 AM, Axil Axil <[email protected]> wrote: > http://www.ias.ac.in/resonance/December2009/p1210-1222.pdf > > Molecule Matters van derWaalsMolecules > > See: page 1214 > 4.1 Supersonic Molecular Beams > > Cheers: Axil > > On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 10:07 AM, James Bowery <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 6:15 PM, Axil Axil <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> On the left is a reservoir at ambient temperature and pressure which is >>> connected to a vacuum chamber on the right through a nozzle hole. The gases >>> expand into the chamber through this hole and during this expansion all the >>> random kinetic energy (translational, rotational and vibrational) gets >>> converted >>> >>> >>> Cite? >> > >

