Abstract
We report results of an experiment which demonstrates that a layer of superfluid helium can be suspended over a cesium-coated orifice. By measuring the layer thickness with a capacitance bridge, we have shown in two runs that fluid layers up to 2 mm thick were suspended over a 70-μm-diam cesium-coated orifice in a platinum foil for over 2 h in a cryostat held at 1.2 K. The effect depends on the recently established fact that superfluid helium does not wet cesium-coated surfaces. As a consequence, superfluid helium is expected to form a stable meniscus across such a cesium-coated hole. The observed depths of suspended helium are consistent with a simple theoretical model based on this picture. We briefly discuss the possible application of this method to the performance of a proposed experiment to study quantum coherence in superfluid helium by directing pulsed beams of helium atoms at such a suspended layer of fluid.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 6627-6633 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics |
Volume | 53 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1996 |