9632819 Huber This project will prepare and characterize supercooled hydrogen in small volumes. Molecular hydrogen is a composite boson, lighter than helium, for which a superfluid phase has been predicted if the material can be supercooled below 5 K. Experiments will be conducted to prepare supercooled hydrogen micro volumes and study them by spectroscopic techniques. The work is of general interest since bosonic materials display unusual behavior such as superconductivity or Bose-Einstein condensation, as well as superfluidity. The challenge in this project is to supercool molecular hydrogen substantially below its crystallization temperature of 13.8 K. Hydrogen in microporous media and unsupported clusters of hydrogen will be investigated. The research is of fundamental interest in condensed matter and materials physics. %%% This project deals with molecular hydrogen confined to small volumes as in aerosol droplets or in microporous media. When so constrained, the hydrogen is more likely to supercool. If supercooled hydrogen liquid can be obtained at temperatures below 5 K, theoretical arguments suggest that a superfluid state may be obtained. Achievement of molecular hydrogen in a new superfluid state would represent a major discovery in condensed matter physics. This project will develop techniques to obtain micro volumes of molecular hydrogen at low temperatures, study the micro volumes by spectroscopic techniques, and search for superfluidity of hydrogen in the microvolumes. ***
