Near-critical dark opalescence in out-of-equilibrium SF$_6$

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Martelli, Valentina, Anquetil, Amaury, Atik, Lin Al, Jiménez, J. Larrea, Subedi, Alaska, Lobo, Ricardo P. S. M., Behnia, Kamran
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Martelli, Valentina
Anquetil, Amaury
Atik, Lin Al
Jiménez, J. Larrea
Subedi, Alaska
Lobo, Ricardo P. S. M.
Behnia, Kamran
author_facet Martelli, Valentina
Anquetil, Amaury
Atik, Lin Al
Jiménez, J. Larrea
Subedi, Alaska
Lobo, Ricardo P. S. M.
Behnia, Kamran
contents The first-order phase transition between the liquid and gaseous phases ends at a critical point. Critical opalescence occurs at this singularity. Discovered in 1822, it is known to be driven by diverging fluctuations in the density. During the past two decades, boundaries between the gas-like and liquid-like regimes have been theoretically proposed and experimentally explored. Here, we show that fast cooling of near-critical sulfur hexafluoride (SF$_6$), in presence of Earth's gravity, favors dark opalescence, where visible photons are not merely scattered, but also absorbed. When the isochore fluid is quenched across the critical point, its optical transmittance drops by more than three orders of magnitude in the whole visible range, a feature which does not occur during slow cooling. We show that transmittance shows a dip at 2eV near the critical point, and the system can host excitons with binding energies ranging from 0.5 to 4 eV. The spinodal decomposition of the liquid-gas mixture, by inducing a periodical modulation of the fluid density, can provide a scenario to explain the emergence of this platform for coupling between light and matter. The possible formation of excitons and polaritons points to the irruption of quantum effects in a quintessentially classical context.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2404_05005
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Near-critical dark opalescence in out-of-equilibrium SF$_6$
Martelli, Valentina
Anquetil, Amaury
Atik, Lin Al
Jiménez, J. Larrea
Subedi, Alaska
Lobo, Ricardo P. S. M.
Behnia, Kamran
Materials Science
Statistical Mechanics
The first-order phase transition between the liquid and gaseous phases ends at a critical point. Critical opalescence occurs at this singularity. Discovered in 1822, it is known to be driven by diverging fluctuations in the density. During the past two decades, boundaries between the gas-like and liquid-like regimes have been theoretically proposed and experimentally explored. Here, we show that fast cooling of near-critical sulfur hexafluoride (SF$_6$), in presence of Earth's gravity, favors dark opalescence, where visible photons are not merely scattered, but also absorbed. When the isochore fluid is quenched across the critical point, its optical transmittance drops by more than three orders of magnitude in the whole visible range, a feature which does not occur during slow cooling. We show that transmittance shows a dip at 2eV near the critical point, and the system can host excitons with binding energies ranging from 0.5 to 4 eV. The spinodal decomposition of the liquid-gas mixture, by inducing a periodical modulation of the fluid density, can provide a scenario to explain the emergence of this platform for coupling between light and matter. The possible formation of excitons and polaritons points to the irruption of quantum effects in a quintessentially classical context.
title Near-critical dark opalescence in out-of-equilibrium SF$_6$
topic Materials Science
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.05005