Phase Diagram for $^3$He Films on Boron Nitride: NMR Studies
ORAL
Abstract
Recent studies of the thermodynamic properties of $^3$He films on graphite [1] have revealed the existence of a previously undetected self-bound liquid phase at low density coverages. We report the results of NMR relaxation time studies for $^3$He adsorbed on hexagonal boron nitride designed to explore the dynamics of the adsorbed $^3$He atoms in order to identify the phase boundaries as a function of temperature. A steep thermally activated temperature dependence is observed at high temperatures ($T > 2.6$) K, followed by a linear dependence for $0.77 < T < 2.6$ K. The linear dependence is consistent with that expected for thermal diffusion in the self-bound liquid state.\\[4pt] [1] D. Sato, {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 109}, 235306 (2012).
*The research was supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation, DMR-1303599.
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