UCLA

Saturated thick films of ⁴Helium adsorbed on a copper substrate are studied experimentally. The film thickness is measured with an ultra-sensitive capacitance bridge capable of resolving sub-Angstrom changes in film thickness. Through the use of this capacitance bridge, the critical Casimir effect in the films is studied

in the vicinity of the λ transition. Additionally, the copper substrate assembly is used to generate and detect third sound in the film. Measurements are made of the third sound speed and attenuation in thick film from 1.6 K to the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in the films. The position of the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition relative to the critical Casimir effect in the films is identifieded. It is discovered that the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition occurs at the beginning of the dip in film thickness due to the critical Casimir effect. When the temperature of the system is swept extremely slowly across the λ transition, a step in film thickness is observed. This step is possibly a non-universal critical Casimir effect. A model of thermal second sound excitations is developed to describe this new observation.