Condensed Matter

An interface between two media is topologically stable two-dimensional object where 3D-symmetry breaks which allows for existence of many exotic excitations. A direct way to explore surface excitations is to investigate their interaction with the surface waves, such as very well known capillary-gravity waves and crystallization waves. Helium remains liquid down to absolute zero where bulk excitations are frozen out and do not mask the interaction of the waves with the surface states. Here we show the possibility of the new, massless wave which can propagate along the surface between two different superfluids phases of 3 He. The displacement of the surface in this wave occurs due to the transition of helium atoms from one phase to another, so that there is no flow of particles as densities of phases are equal. We calculate the dispersion of the wave in which the inertia is provided by spin supercurrents, and the restoring force is magnetic field gradient. We calculate the dissipation of the wave and show the preferable conditions to observe it.

A mathematical model of the process of carbon capture in a packed column by adsorption is developed and analysed. First a detailed study is made of the governing equations. Due to the complexity of the internal geometry it is standard practice to average these equations. Here the averaging process is revisited. This shows that there exists a number of errors and some confusion in the standard systems studied in the literature. These errors affect the parameter estimation, with consequences when the experimental set-up is modified or scaled-up. Assuming, as a first approximation, an isothermal model the gas concentration equation is solved numerically. Excellent agreement with data from a pressure swing adsorption experiment is demonstrated. A new analytical solution (valid away from the inlet) is obtained. This provides explicit relations for quantities such as the amount of adsorbed gas, time of first breakthrough, total process time and width and speed of the reaction zone, showing how these depend on the operating conditions and material parameters. The relations show clearly how to optimise the carbon capture process. By comparison with experimental data the analytical solution may also be used to calculate unknown system parameters.

We investigate the behavior of the collective excitations of adsorbed 4 He in an ordered hexagonal mesopore, examining the crossover from a thin film to a confined fluid. Here we present the inelastic scattering results as a function of filling at constant temperature. We find a monotonic transition of the maxon excitation as a function of filling. This has been interpreted as corresponding to an increasing density of the adsorbed helium, which approaches the bulk value as filling increases. The roton minimum exhibits a more complicated behavior that does not monotonically approach bulk values as filling increases. The full pore scattering resembles the bulk liquid accompanied by a layer mode. The maxon and roton scattering, taken together, at intermediate fillings does not correspond to a single bulk liquid dispersion at negative, low, or high pressure.

In this note, we consider the mean field approximation for the description of the probe charged particle in a dense charged drop. We solve the corresponding Schrödinger equation for the drop with spherical symmetry in the first order of mean field approximation and discuss the obtained results.

Metastability effects in the formation of Condon non-spin magnetic domains are considered. A possibility for the first-order phase transition occurrence in a three-dimensional electron gas is described in the case of two-frequency de-Haas-van Alphen magnetization oscillations originating from two extremal cross sections of the Fermi surface. The appearance of two additional domains is shown in the metastable region in aluminum. The phase diagram temperature-magnetic field exhibits the presence of second-order and first- order phase transitions in the two-frequency case.

The dynamic structure factor of superfluid 4 He has been investigated at very low temperatures by inelastic neutron scattering. The measurements combine different incoming energies resulting in an unprecedentedly large dynamic range with excellent energy resolution, covering wave vectors Q up to 5 Å −1 and energies ω up to 15 meV. A detailed description of the dynamics of superfluid 4 He is obtained from saturated vapor pressure up to solidification. The single-excitation spectrum is substantially modified at high pressures, as the maxon energy exceeds the roton-roton decay threshold. A highly structured multi-excitation spectrum is observed at low energies, where clear thresholds and branches have been identified. Strong phonon emission branches are observed when the phonon or roton group velocities exceed the sound velocity. The spectrum is found to display strong multi-excitations whenever the single-excitations face disintegration following Pitaevskii's type a or b criteria. At intermediate energies, an interesting pattern in the dynamic structure factor is observed in the vicinity of the recoil energy. All these features, which evolve significantly with pressure, are in very good agreement with the Dynamic Many-body calculations, even at the highest densities, where the correlations are strongest.

Microscopic description in the study of immiscibility and segregating properties of liquid metallic binary alloys has gained a renewed scientific and technological interests during the last eight years for the physicists, metallurgists and chemists. Especially, in understanding the basic mechanisms, from the point of interionic interaction, and how and why segregation in some metallic alloys takes place at and under certain thermodynamic state specified by temperature and pressure. An overview of the theoretical and experimental works done by different authors or groups in the area of segregation combining electronic theory of metals, statistical mechanics and the perturbative approach is presented in this review. Main attention in this review is focused on the static effects such as the effects of energy of mixing, enthalpy of mixing, entropy of mixing and understanding the critical behaviour of segregation of alloys from the microscopic theoretical approach. Investigation of segregating properties from the dynamic effects such as from the effects of shear viscosity and diffusion coefficient is just becoming available. However, we have restricted this review only on static effects and their variation of impacts on different alloys.

Low dimensional fermionic quantum systems are exceptionally interesting because they reveal distinctive physical phenomena, including among others, topologically protected excitations, edge states, frustration, and fractionalization. Two-dimensional 3 He has indeed shown a remarkable variety of phases of matter including the unusual quantum spin liquid. Our aim was to lower the dimension of the 3 He system even more by confining it on a suspended carbon nanotube. We demonstrate that 3 He on a nanotube merges both fermionic and bosonic phenomena, with a quantum phase transition between solid 1/3 phase and a fluid-like solid. The bosonic dimer fluid-like solid contains topology-induced vacancies which are delocalized owing to large zero-point motion. We thus observe a quantum phase transition from fermionic 3 He crystal in to a bosonic one in quasi-1D geometry.

We derive a simple tensor algebraic expression of the modified Eshelby tensor for a spherical inclusion embedded in an arbitrarily anisotropic matrix in terms of three tensor quantities (the 4th order identity tensor, the elastic stiffness tensor, and the Eshelby tensor) and two scalar quantities (the inclusion radius and interfacial spring constant), when the interfacial damage is modelled as a linear-spring layer of vanishing thickness. We validate the expression for a triclinic crystal involving 21 independent elastic constants against finite element analysis (FEA).

Helium-4 in the superfluid phase (He II) is a two-fluid system that exhibits fascinating quantum hydrodynamics with important scientific and engineering applications. However, the lack of high-precision flow measurement tools in He II has impeded the progress in understanding and utilizing its hydrodynamics. In recent years, there have been extensive efforts in developing quantitative flow visualization techniques applicable to He II. In particular, a powerful molecular tagging velocimetry (MTV) technique, based on tracking thin lines of He ∗ 2 excimer molecules created via femtosecond laser-field ionization in helium, has been developed in our lab. This technique allows unambiguous measurement of the normal-fluid velocity field in the two-fluid system. Nevertheless, there are two limitations of this technique: 1) only the velocity component perpendicular to the tracer line can be measured; and 2) there is an inherent error in determining the perpendicular velocity. In this paper, we discuss how these issues can be resolved by advancing the MTV technique. We also discuss two novel schemes for tagging and producing He ∗ 2 tracers. The first method allows the creation of a tagged He ∗ 2 tracer line without the use of an expensive femtosecond laser. The second method enables full-space velocity field measurement through tracking small clouds of He ∗ 2 molecules created via neutron- 3 He absorption reactions in He II.