Heterogeneous hole nucleation in electron-charged 4He wetting films
4He wetting layers on Cs exhibit an unusually long-lived metastable state upon undercooling to temperatures well below the wetting temperature T(w) approximately 1.9 K. The decay of this state by homogeneous thermal nucleation of holes is disfavored by the incipient divergence of the free energy barrier separating the metastable thick film from the stable thin-film state. We propose that interface deformations ("dimples") created by electrons bound at the 4He liquid-vapor interface can be used as nuclei for the heterogeneous nucleation of holes. The size and excess free energy of the dimple can be tuned by an applied electric field E which allows the lifetime of the metastable film to be controlled.
Montevecchi
E
Laboratorium Voor Vaste Stoffysica en Magnetisme, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
Blossey
R