Observation of a New Surface State on 4He Crystal Interfaces

Abstract

The equilibrium shape of hcp 4He crystals has been studied at temperatures 0.05≤T≤0.7 K by means of a high-precision optical interferometer. We find that the profile of the interfacial boundary, close to an almost horizontal c-facet, has a well-defined slope discontinuity separating two angular regions with different behavior of the surface stiffness α̃. For surfaces tilted by an angle φ≲100 μrad with respect to the c-facet, we obtain α̃=κ/φ, contrary to the linear angular dependence predicted by current theories. Our results on four large crystals yield κ=(11±3)×10 exp −4T erg/ cm exp 2 K.