The thermal conductivity of solid helium

Abstract

Abstract The thermal conductivities of crystals of solid helium at densities between 0⋅194 and 0⋅218 g/cm3 have been measured at liquid-helium temperatures. In order to interpret the results, the specific heat of solid helium at these densities has been measured from 0⋅6 to 1⋅4° K. The range of densities employed is sufficient to allow the observation of Debye characteristic temperatures varying by 40 %, and of thermal conductivities varying by factors of over 10. It is shown that the conductivity measurements are in accord with the ‘umklapp’ type of thermal resistance derived by Peierls (1929, 1935). Further work was restricted by the difficulty of obtaining good single crystals in narrow tubes, but measurements of the conductivity at one density were obtained down to 0⋅3° K. In this region the conductivity is limited by boundary scattering and is higher than that observed by other authors for liquid helium II at similar temperatures.