skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Molecular Tagging Velocimetry in Superfluid Helium-4: Progress, Issues, and Future Development

Journal Article · · Journal of Low Temperature Physics

Helium-4 in the superfluid phase (He II) is a two-fluid system that exhibits fascinating quantum hydrodynamics with important scientific and engineering applications. However, the lack of high-precision flow measurement tools in He II has impeded the progress in understanding and utilizing its hydrodynamics. In recent years, there have been extensive efforts in developing quantitative flow visualization techniques applicable to He II. In particular, a powerful molecular tagging velocimetry (MTV) technique, based on tracking thin lines of He2* excimer molecules created via femtosecond laser-field ionization in helium, has been developed in our laboratory. This technique allows unambiguous measurement of the normal fluid velocity field in the two-fluid system. Nevertheless, there are two limitations to this technique: (1) only the velocity component perpendicular to the tracer line can be measured; and (2) there is an inherent error in determining the perpendicular velocity. In this paper, we discuss how these issues can be resolved by advancing the MTV technique. We also discuss two novel schemes for tagging and producing He2* tracers. Here, the first method allows the creation of a tagged He2* tracer line without the use of an expensive femtosecond laser. The second method enables full-space velocity field measurement through tracking small clouds of He2* molecules created via neutron-3He absorption reactions in He II.

Research Organization:
Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-96ER40952; DMR-1807291; CBET-1801780; DMR-1644779
OSTI ID:
1657836
Journal Information:
Journal of Low Temperature Physics, Vol. 196, Issue 1-2; ISSN 0022-2291
Publisher:
SpringerCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 4 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (54)

Particle Image Velocimetry Studies of Counterflow Heat Transport in Superfluid Helium II journal May 2007
Producing and imaging a thin line of He2∗ molecular tracers in helium-4 journal September 2015
Operational cryogenic experience with the Gravity Probe B payload
  • Taber, M. A.
  • ADVANCES IN CRYOGENIC ENGINEERING: Proceedings of the Cryogenic Engineering Conference - CEC, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1472151
conference January 2002
Helium Cryogenics journal August 1987
On the triggering of the Ultimate Regime of convection journal August 2010
Exploration of thermal counterflow in He II using particle tracking velocimetry journal June 2018
Direct observation of Kelvin waves excited by quantized vortex reconnection journal March 2014
R -parity violating supersymmetric Barr-Zee type contributions to the fermion electric dipole moment with weak gauge boson exchange journal June 2013
Neutron interactions in liquid 2 3 He journal August 1997
Metastable Helium Molecules as Tracers in Superfluid He 4 journal June 2009
Visualization of the normal-fluid turbulence in counterflowing superfluid He 4 journal March 2015
Molecular tagging techniques and their applications to the study of complex thermal flow phenomena journal August 2015
Visualization of quantized vortices journal May 2006
Studying the Normal-Fluid Flow in Helium-II Using Metastable Helium Molecules journal October 2009
Experimental Validation and Operation of the LHC Test String 2 Cryogenic System
  • Blanco, E.
  • ADVANCES IN CRYOGENIC ENGEINEERING: Transactions of the Cryogenic Engineering Conference - CEC, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1774687
conference January 2004
Characterization of reconnecting vortices in superfluid helium journal September 2008
Dissipation in quantum turbulence in superfluid He 4 above 1 K journal May 2018
Statistical Measurement of Counterflow Turbulence in Superfluid Helium-4 Using $$\hbox {He}_2^*$$ He 2 ∗ Tracer-Line Tracking Technique journal October 2016
Thermal analysis of the superconducting outsert of the NHMFL 45-T hybrid magnet system journal January 1994
Development of stereoscopic molecular tagging velocimetry journal March 2001
Radiative decay of the metastable He 2 ( a 3 Σ u + ) molecule in liquid helium journal January 1999
The Use of Cryogenic Helium for Classical Turbulence: Promises and Hurdles journal October 2006
Turbulent convection at very high Rayleigh numbers journal April 2000
Velocity Statistics Distinguish Quantum Turbulence from Classical Turbulence journal October 2008
Trace Detection of Metastable Helium Molecules in Superfluid Helium by Laser-Induced Fluorescence journal September 2005
Excimers He 2 * as Tracers of Quantum Turbulence in He 4 in the T = 0 Limit journal April 2013
Decay of counterflow turbulence in superfluid 4He journal May 2016
The Total Cross Section of the He 3 Nucleus for Slow Neutrons journal May 1949
Effect of Boundary Layers Asymmetry on Heat Transfer Efficiency in Turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard Convection at Very High Rayleigh Numbers journal October 2012
Scintillation of liquid helium for low-energy nuclear recoils journal August 2013
Energy spectrum of thermal counterflow turbulence in superfluid helium-4 journal September 2017
Visualization Study of Counterflow in Superfluid He 4 using Metastable Helium Molecules journal July 2010
Visualization of Superfluid Helium Flow journal November 2008
Interaction of ions, atoms, and small molecules with quantized vortex lines in superfluid 4 He journal February 2015
Detection and Imaging of He 2 Molecules in Superfluid Helium journal January 2008
Turbulent flows at cryogenic temperatures: a new frontier journal September 1999
Determination of the effective kinematic viscosity for the decay of quasiclassical turbulence in superfluid He 4 journal September 2016
Visualization of two-fluid flows of superfluid helium-4 journal March 2014
Large-scale turbulent flow around a cylinder in counterflow superfluid4He (He (II)) journal September 2005
A direct interrogation of superfluidity on molecular scales journal July 2002
Turbulent structure measurements by RELIEF flow tagging journal October 1991
Quantitative flow Visualization in Unseeded Flows journal January 1997
Lagrangian accelerations of particles in superfluid turbulence journal February 2013
A multi-time-delay approach for correction of the inherent error in single-component molecular tagging velocimetry journal September 2013
Characterization of reconnecting vortices in superfluid helium text January 2008
Velocity Statistics Distinguish Quantum Turbulence from Classical Turbulence text January 2008
Studying the normal-fluid flow in Helium-II using metastable helium molecules text January 2009
On the triggering of the Ultimate Regime of convection text January 2012
R-parity violating supersymmetric Barr-Zee type contributions to the fermion electric dipole moment with weak gauge boson exchange text January 2012
Scintillation of Liquid Helium for Low-Energy Nuclear Recoils text January 2013
Trace Detection of Metastable Helium Molecules in Superfluid Helium by Laser-Induced Fluorescence text January 2005
Motion of a spherical solid particle in thermal counterflow turbulence journal May 2008
Neutron-Detected Tomography of Impurity-Seeded Superfluid Helium journal September 2004
A Concept for A Dark Matter Detector Using Liquid Helium-4 text January 2013