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Critical Casimir effect and wetting by helium mixtures

Sebastien Balibar·Tomohiro Ueno·Takao Mizusaki·Frederic Caupin·Etienne Rolley
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Abstract

We have measured the contact angle of the interface of phase-separated $^{3}$He-$^{4}$He mixtures against a sapphire window. We have found that this angle is finite and does not tend to zero when the temperature approaches $T_t$, the temperature of the tri-critical point. On the contrary, it increases with temperature. This behavior is a remarkable exception to what is generally observed near critical points, i.e. "critical point wetting''. We propose that it is a consequence of the "critical Casimir effect'' which leads to an effective attraction of the $^{3}$He-$^{4}$He interface by the sapphire near $T_{t}$.

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Sebastien Balibar, Tomohiro Ueno, Takao Mizusaki, Frederic Caupin, Etienne Rolley. 2003-03-26. Critical Casimir effect and wetting by helium mixtures. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.90.116102

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