Studies of magneto-hydrodynamics of superfluid sup 3 He in high magnetic field

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:6046126

Lu, Sing-The

The {sup 3}He-A{sub 1} phase is of great interest because the Cooper pairs are totally spin-polarized. Spin supercurrents in the A{sub 1} phase were systematically studied by a novel mechanical method. The temperature dependence of the spin density relaxation time showed an unexpected discontinuity near the middle of the phase, identified as {Tc}, the zero field transition temperature. A surface phase diagram different from the bulk phase diagram could be a mechanism for the observed temperature dependence of the relaxation time. The relaxation time changes only by about 40% over the applied pressure range 3 to 28 bar. Since the transport coefficients of liquid {sup 3}He all vary substantially (by factor of 3 or greater) as the liquid pressure is varied, our observations provide a severe constraint on the mechanisms underlying the relaxation time. The results provided concrete evidence to show that any one of the transport coefficients alone is not responsible for observed relaxation phenomena. The measurement revealed that the relaxation time depends on the magnetic field over the range .75 to 14 KOe used in the experiments. In the low temperature side of the phase the relaxation time is independent of magnetic field, while in the high temperature side of the phase the relaxation time is proportional to the applied field. Another very interesting effect was the detection of the unexpectedly large magnetically induced pressure in {sup 3}He-A{sub 2} phase. The surprising A{sub 2} phase magnetically induced pressure displayed no measurable pressure, field, and temperature dependence. This observation is totally unexpected theoretically due to the change of relative symmetries upon the second order phase transition from the A{sub 1} to A{sub 2} phase.

• Research Organization: Rutgers--the State Univ., New Brunswick, NJ (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6046126
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640450* -- Fluid Physics-- Superfluidity
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
COOPER PAIRS
DIAGRAMS
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FLUID MECHANICS
HELIUM 3
HELIUM 3 A1
HELIUM ISOTOPES
HYDRODYNAMICS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MECHANICS
NUCLEI
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
PHASE DIAGRAMS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RELAXATION TIME
SPIN
STABLE ISOTOPES
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE