Thin helium film on a glass substrate

We investigate by Monte Carlo simulations the structure, energetics and superfluid properties of thin helium-four films (up to four layers) on a glass substrate, at low temperature. The first adsorbed layer is found to be solid and "inert", i.e., atoms are localized and do not participate to quantum exchanges. Additional layers are liquid, with no clear layer separation above the second one. It is found that a single helium-three impurity resides on the outmost layer, not significantly further away from the substrate than helium-four atoms on the same layer.Comment: Six figures, submitted for publication to the Journal of Low Temperature Physic

Variational Calculations for 3^3He Impurities on 4^4He Droplets

Variational Monte Carlo method is used to calculate ground state properties of $^4$He droplets, containing 70, 112, 168, 240, 330, and 728 particles. The resulting particle and kinetic energy densities are used as an input in the Feynman-Lekner theory for $^3$He impurities. The kinetic energy density of $^4$He atoms and the energy of the $^3$He surface states are compared with the results of previous phenomenological calculations.Comment: 12 pages, in revtex 3.0, with 5 .ps figure

Longitudinal NMR Relaxation of Degenerate 2-D 3He in 4He Films

The NMR spin-lattice relaxation time T1 of a degenerate submonolayer coverage of 3He in a thin adsorbed 4He film has been measured. As a function of 4He coverage, T1 exhibits a maximum and undergoes a change in temperature dependence at a coverage near that of the superfluid transition in the underlying 4He film. Two relaxation mechanisms contribute to the observed T1