Optical measurement of contact angle of liquid helium on cesium

We have studied the wetting properties of helium-4 on a carefully prepared cesium substrate using an interferometric technique. Below the wetting temperature, which is 1.9 K in our experiment, we observe a striking hysteretic behaviour, which is due to the pinning of the contact line on defects of t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of low temperature physics Vol. 108; no. 1-2; pp. 1 - 9
Main Authors ROLLEY, E, GUTHMANN, C
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Heidelberg Springer 01.07.1997
Subjects
Cesium
Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
Contact angle
Crystal defects
Exact sciences and technology
Helium
Interferometry
Physics
Solid-fluid interfaces
Substrates
Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties)
Thermal effects
Wetting
Temperature dependence
Fluid solid interface
Wetting
Cesium
Contact angle
Experimental study
Liquid helium 4
Hysteresis
Interferometry
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Summary:We have studied the wetting properties of helium-4 on a carefully prepared cesium substrate using an interferometric technique. Below the wetting temperature, which is 1.9 K in our experiment, we observe a striking hysteretic behaviour, which is due to the pinning of the contact line on defects of the substrate. We have measured the temperature dependence of the contact angle theta sub(a) for an advancing meniscus. At low temperature, we find theta sub(a) approximately 25 degree , in contrast with a previous result by Klier et al.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0022-2291
1573-7357
DOI:10.1007/BF02396813