Phase Transition Studies of Adsorbed Films

Professor Chan proposes a series of experiments that draw on his established expertise in sensitive heat capacity measurements. The phase transition in films adsorbed on porous glass substrates will be investigated. Particular attention will be given to the possible 3-D weakly interacting Bose gas behavior of very thin helium films at milliKelvin temperatures. Supercooling of a confined fluid will be studied with particular emphasis on hydrogen A superfluid transition predicted at 6K. The heat capacity of critical binary fluid mixtures confined in a porous glass matrix may exhibit random-Ising-magnet behavior. Heat capacity measurements will be made of molecular films beyond monolayer coverage so as to understand the relationship between two dimensional melting and film growth.