Observation of a Glassy Phase in Solid 4He in the Supersolidity Region

Abstract

High-precision pressure measurements in solid 4He, grown by the capillary blocking technique, have been made in temperatures range from 50 to 500 mK. The temperature dependence of pressure indicates that aside from the usual phonon contribution ~T^4, there is an additional contribution ~ T^2, the latter becoming dominant at temperatures T < 300 mK, where an abnormal behavior attributed to supersolidity has been observed. The data suggest the appearance of a glassy phase (that might be responsible for the anomalous behaviors observed previously).