Energy of interaction of a helium film with a metal surface

Abstract

The energy of interaction of a macroscopic film of helium of arbitrary thickness with a metallic substrate as a function of the electron density of the metal is calculated. The total interaction energy of the film with the surface is represented as a sum of the van der Waals attraction energy and the repulsion energy, which is identified with the increase in the energy of the electrons in the metal accompanying the deposition of the film. It is shown that the coupling of the film to the surface is weaker than the coupling of isolated helium atoms.

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1063/10.0031057

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