Threefold reduction in thermal conductivity of Vycor glass due to adsorption of liquid 4He

oleh: Z G Cheng, M H W Chan

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: IOP Publishing 2013-01-01

Deskripsi

We report thermal conductivity measurements of porous Vycor glass when it is empty and when the pores are filled with helium between 0.06 and 0.5 K. The filling of liquid ^3 He and liquid ^4 He inside the Vycor pores brings about two to three-fold reduction of the thermal conductivity as compared with empty Vycor. This dramatic reduction of thermal conductivity, not seen with solid ^3 He and ^4 He in the pores, is the consequence of hydrodynamic sound modes in liquid helium that greatly facilitate the quantum tunneling of the two-level systems in Vycor and enhance the scattering of the thermal phonons in the silica network.