Abstract
We describe a method of creating a freely suspended ‘slab’ of superfluid helium-II by using a dense array of 51 µm diameter parallel cylindrical holes in a glass disc of 190 µm thickness. By adjusting the chemical potential in the cell, the holes could be made to fill with liquid, and the surface-curvature controlled. We have measured the transmission of atom beams, generated by a thin-film heater and detected with a sensitive bolometer, through this slab at low temperature. The resugts show that R + rotons can undergo total internal reflection at the free liquid surfaces and confirm that the dominant transmission channel is atom-R + roton-atom with a maximum probability p∼0.15 for 5 K atoms.
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Williams, C.D.H., Wyatt, A.F.G. A Slab of Liquid Helium-4 with Two Free Surfaces. Journal of Low Temperature Physics 134, 217–226 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOLT.0000012559.10544.ec
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOLT.0000012559.10544.ec