Torsional oscillator and synchrotron X-Ray experiments on solid 4He in aerogel

X-ray diffraction experiments show that solid 4He grown in aerogel is highly polycrystalline, with an hcp crystal structure (as in bulk) and a crystallite size of approximately 100 nm. In contrast to the expectation that the highly disordered solid will have a large supersolid fraction, torsional os...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2008-10, Vol.101 (16), p.165303-165303
Main Authors: Mulders, N, West, J T, Chan, M H W, Kodituwakku, C N, Burns, C A, Lurio, L B
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:X-ray diffraction experiments show that solid 4He grown in aerogel is highly polycrystalline, with an hcp crystal structure (as in bulk) and a crystallite size of approximately 100 nm. In contrast to the expectation that the highly disordered solid will have a large supersolid fraction, torsional oscillator measurements show a behavior that is strikingly similar to high purity crystals grown from the superfluid phase. The low temperature supersolid fraction is only approximately 3 x 10(-4), and the onset temperature is approximately 100 mK.
ISSN:0031-9007