In this paper, the Diffusion Limited Cluster Aggregation (DLCA) method is employed to reconstruct the three-dimensional network of silica aerogel. Then, simulation of nitrogen adsorption at 77 K in silica aerogel is conducted by the Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) method. To reduce the computational cost and guarantee accuracy, a continuous-discrete hybrid potential model, as well as an adso...

A high-resolution calorimetric study has been made on the smectic-A to nematic phase transition in liquid crystals perturbed by the dispersion of 70-Å-diam silica spheres ~aerosils!. The specific heat peak of this transition decreases in amplitude and shifts to lower temperatures with increasing silica density. However, it remains sharp in comparison to the effects of aerogel confinement at the...

The longitudinal acoustic velocity in silica aerogel is presented as a function of the interstitial gas type and pressure. This was measured using air-coupled ultrasonic transducers configured for differential pulse transit time measurements. The results are interpreted in terms of the thermal relaxation of the acoustic pulse. The microscale temperature oscillations of the gas and solid phases ...

BACKGROUND Aerogels are a versatile group of nanostructured/nanoporous materials with physical and chemical properties that can be adjusted to suit the application of interest. In terms of biomedical applications, aerogels are particularly suitable for implants such as membranes, tissue growth scaffolds, and nerve regeneration and guidance inserts. The mesoporous nature of aerogels can also be ...

When immersed in liquid 3He, the nanometer strands of aerogel are coated with a thin layer of solid 3He, forming a network of irregular nanotubes. Owing to its high purity and weak interactions, this system is ideal for studying fundamental processes. We report the first experiments on solid 3He in aerogel at ultralow temperatures, cooled by direct adiabatic demagnetization. Simultaneous nuclea...

Superfluid He has important implications in studying condensed matter physics, specifically in its phases at very low temperatures. The understanding of these phases not only expands our knowledge of He itself, but is also a paradigm for recently discovered unconventional superconductors such as strontium ruthenate (SrRuO3) and uranium platinum three (UPt3). Superfluid He’s relation to supercon...

Charged particle identification at the PANDA experiment will be performed over a wide range of momenta by Čerenkov detectors. One option to identify higher momentum charged particles under small polar angles could be the use of silica aerogels as radiator. Simultaneously, an aerogel Čerenkov counter is being designed for the Kaos spectrometer at the Mainz Microtron MAMI for the discrimination b...