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Updated: Apr 24, 2026

A Rapid Synthesis Method for Au, Pd, and Pt Aerogels Via Direct Solution-Based Reduction
Published on: June 18, 2018
Condensation of helium in aerogel and athermal dynamics of the random-field Ising model
Geoffroy J Aubry1, Fabien Bonnet1, Mathieu Melich1
1Université Grenoble Alpes, Institut Néel, F-38042 Grenoble, France and CNRS, Institut Néel, F-38042 Grenoble, France.
Abstract:
High resolution measurements reveal that condensation isotherms of (4)He in high porosity silica aerogel become discontinuous below a critical temperature. We show that this behavior does not correspond to an equilibrium phase transition modified by the disorder induced by the aerogel structure, but to the disorder-driven critical point predicted for the athermal out-of-equilibrium dynamics of the random-field Ising model. Our results evidence the key role of nonequilibrium effects in the phase transitions of disordered systems.
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