Heat capacity of microscopic liquid3He droplets in silver

Abstract

We report on heat-capacity measurements of liquid3He droplets in a Ag matrix at 15 mK≤T≤1 K. The samples have been prepared by implanting about 0.1 at.%3He in 42 µm thick Ag Foils. Annealing of the foils results in high-pressure3He gas bubbles of diameters between 50 A and 150 A; the3He in the bubbles liquefies when the metal foils are cooled to low temperatures. After each annealing step we measured the low-temperature thermal relaxation time of the foils and determined in this way the heat capacity of the3He droplets. The results differ from the specific heat of bulk liquid3He. We will discuss possible origins of this deviation.