Pressure-Driven Flow of Solid Helium

Journal Article · Fri Mar 17 00:00:00 EST 2006 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.96.1· OSTI ID:20778804

Day, James; Beamish, John ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2J1 (Canada)

The recent torsional oscillator results of Kim and Chan show an anomalous mass decoupling, interpreted by the authors as a supersolid phase transition, in solid {sup 4}He. We have used a piezoelectrically driven diaphragm to study the flow of solid helium through an array of capillaries. Our measurements showed no indication of low temperature flow, placing stringent restrictions on supersolid flow in response to a pressure difference. The average flow speed at low temperatures was less than 1.2x10{sup -14} m/s, corresponding to a supersolid velocity at least 7 orders of magnitude smaller than the critical velocities inferred from the torsional oscillator measurements.

• OSTI ID: 20778804
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 96, Issue 10; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.105304; (c) 2006 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CAPILLARIES
CRITICAL VELOCITY
DECOUPLING
DIAPHRAGM
HELIUM
HELIUM 4
MASS
OSCILLATORS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
SOLIDS