# Layering transitions in superfluid helium adsorbed on a carbon nanotube mechanical resonator

## TL;DR

This study investigates layering transitions in superfluid helium films on a carbon nanotube, revealing first-order phase transitions and high-quality multilayer formation, with implications for quantum fluid dynamics on cylindrical surfaces.

## Contribution

It provides the first direct observation of layering transitions in helium films on nanotubes using mechanical resonance measurements.

## Key findings

- Demonstrated helium layer formation up to five atoms thick
- Observed layer-by-layer growth with discontinuities indicating first-order transitions
- Achieved unprecedented quality of helium multilayers on nanotubes

## Abstract

Helium is recognized as a model system for the study of phase transitions. Of particular interest is the superfluid phase in two dimensions. We report measurements on superfluid helium films adsorbed on the surface of a suspended carbon nanotube. We measure the mechanical vibrations of the nanotube to probe the adsorbed helium film. We demonstrate the formation of helium layers up to five atoms thickness. Upon increasing the vapour pressure, we observe layer-by-layer growth with discontinuities in both the number of adsorbed atoms and the speed of sound in the adsorbed film. These hitherto unobserved discontinuities point to a series of first-order layering transitions. Our results show that helium multilayers adsorbed on a nanotube are of unprecedented quality compared to previous works. They pave the way to new studies of quantized superfluid vortex dynamics on cylindrical surfaces, of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition in this new geometry, perhaps also to supersolidity in crystalline single layers as predicted in quantum Monte Carlo calculations.