Abstract
The authors report the first systematic study of the wetting behaviour in fluid alkali metal-alkali halide systems on the metal-rich side of the phase diagram. To this end the interface of fluid sample-inert substrate (sapphire) has been probed by ellipsometry. Of particular interest is the influence of differences of the bulk phase diagram on the wetting characteristics. If the bulk fluid phase exhibits homogeneous miscibility like Cs-CsCl the optical reflectivity changes continuously with composition consistent with metallic Drude type behaviour. However, in systems with a critical and a triple point like K-KCl and Na-NaCl a wetting transition is observed. This occurs in metal-rich solutions approaching the triple point along the phase boundary. In K-KCl a salt-rich wetting film of approximately=100 nm thickness and composition corresponding to K0.1KCl0.9 has been determined. This is the film thickness in thermal equilibrium as has been found by vigorous ultrasonic stirring.
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