No Arabic abstract
We have examined superfluid properties of $^4$He confined to a nano-porous Gelsil glass that has nanopores 2.5 nm in diameter. The pressure-temperature phase diagram was determined by torsional oscillator, heat capacity and pressure studies. The superfluid transition temperature $T_{mathrm c}$ approaches zero at 3.4 MPa, indicating a novel quantum superfluid transition. By heat capacity measurements, the nonsuperfluid phase adjacent to the superfluid and solid phases is identified to be a nanometer-scale, localized Bose condensation state, in which global phase coherence is destroyed. At high pressures, the superfluid density has a $T$-linear term, and $T_{mathrm c}$ is proportional to the zero-temperature superfluid density. These results strongly suggest that phase fluctuations in the superfluid order parameter play a dominant role on the phase diagram and superfluid properties.
We explore superfluidity for $^4$He confined in a porous glass which has nanopores of 2.5 nm in diameter, at pressures up to 5 MPa. With increasing pressure, the superfluidity is drastically suppressed, and the superfluid transition temperature approaches 0 K at $P_c = 3.5$ MPa. The features strongly suggest that the extreme confinement of $^4$He into the nanopores induces a quantum phase transition from superfluid to nonsuperfluid at 0 K, and at $P_c$.
$^4$He confined in nanoporous Gelsil glass is a unique, strongly correlated Bose system exhibiting quantum phase transition (QPT) by controlling pressure. Previous studies revealed that the QPT occurs with four - dimensional (4D) XY criticality, which appears in the zero-temperature limit of the superfluid density. However, the $P-T$ phase diagram also suggested that 4D XY nature appears at finite temperatures. Here, we have determined the critical exponent of the superfluid density of $^4$He in two Gelsil samples that have pore diameter to be about 3 nm, using a newly developed mechanical resonator technique. The critical exponent $zeta$ in the powerlaw fitting $rho_{mathrm s} propto left| 1 - T/T_{mathrm c} right| ^{zeta}$, where $T_{mathrm c}$ is the superfluid transition temperature, was found to be 1.0 $pm$ 0.1 for all pressures realized in this experiment, 0.1 $<$ $P$ $<$ 2.4 MPa. This value of $zeta$ gives a decisive evidence that the finite-temperature superfluid transition belongs to 4D XY universality class. The emergence of the 4D XY criticality is explained by the existence of many nanoscale superfluid droplets, the so called localized Bose - Einstein condensates (LBECs), above $T_{mathrm c}$. Due to the large energy cost for $^4$He atoms to move between the LBECs, the phase of the LBEC order parameters fluctuates not only in spatial (3D) but imaginary time ($+1$D) dimensions, resulting in the 4D XY criticality by a temperature near $T_{mathrm c}$, which is determined by the finite size of the system in the imaginary time dimension. Below $T_{mathrm c}$, macroscopic superfluidity grows in the nanopores of Gelsil by the alignment of the phases of the LBEC order parameters. An excess dissipation peak observed below $T_{mathrm c}$ is well explained by this phase matching process.
$^4$He confined in nanoporous media is a model Bose system that exhibits quantum phase transition (QPT) by varying pressure. We have precisely determined the critical exponent of the superfluid density of $^4$He in porous Gelsil glasses with pore size of 3.0 nm using the Helmholtz resonator technique. The critical exponent $zeta$ of the superfluid density was found to be 1.0 $pm$ 0.1 for the pressure range 0.1 < P < 2.4 MPa. This value provides decisive evidence that the finite-temperature superfluid transition belongs to the four-dimensional (4D) XY universality class, in contrast to the classical 3D XY one in bulk liquid 4He, in which $zeta$ = 0.67. The quantum critical behavior at a finite temperature is understood by strong phase fluctuation in local Bose-Einstein condensates above the superfluid transition temperature. $^4$He in nanoporous media is a unique example in which quantum criticality emerges not only at 0 K but at finite temperatures.
The ground state of $^4$He confined in a system with the topology of a cylinder can display properties of a solid, superfluid and liquid crystal. This phase, which we call compactified supersolid (CSS), originates from wrapping the basal planes of the bulk hcp solid into concentric cylindrical shells, with several central shells exhibiting superfluidity along the axial direction. Its main feature is the presence of a topological defect which can be viewed as a disclination with Frank index $n=1$ observed in liquid crystals, and which, in addition, has a superfluid core. The CSS as well as its transition to an insulating compactified solid with a very wide hysteresis loop are found by ab initio Monte Carlo simulations. A simple analytical model captures qualitatively correctly the main property of the CSS -- a gradual decrease of the superfluid response with increasing pressure.
We study the magnetic properties of nanometer-sized graphene structures with triangular and hexagonal shapes terminated by zig-zag edges. We discuss how the shape of the island, the imbalance in the number of atoms belonging to the two graphene sublattices, the existence of zero-energy states, and the total and local magnetic moment are intimately related. We consider electronic interactions both in a mean-field approximation of the one-orbital Hubbard model and with density functional calculations. Both descriptions yield values for the ground state total spin, $S$, consistent with Liebs theorem for bipartite lattices. Triangles have a finite $S$ for all sizes whereas hexagons have S=0 and develop local moments above a critical size of $approx 1.5$ nm.