Observation of quantized circulation in superfluid sup 3 He- B

Journal Article · Mon Jan 21 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Physical Review Letters; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.66.329· OSTI ID:6202963

Davis, J C; Close, J D; Zieve, R; Packard, R E ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (US)

We report the first observation of quantized circulation in superfluid {sup 3}He-{ital B}. The apparatus consists of a straight vibrating wire immersed in liquid {sup 3}He, which is cooled by a rotating nuclear demagnetization cryostat. The experiment is carried out at about 250 {mu}K. The superfluid at this temperature is in the ballistic quasiparticle regime. Circulation around the wire is found to be stable only when it takes on the values {minus}{ital h}/2{ital m}{sub 3}, 0, and +{ital h}/2{ital m}{sub 3}, where {ital h} is Planck's constant and {ital m}{sub 3} is the mass of the {sup 3}He atom. This experiment confirms that superfluid {sup 3}He-{ital B} is a Cooper-paired superfluid with a macroscopic quantum wave function.

• OSTI ID: 6202963
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters; (USA), Journal Name: Physical Review Letters; (USA) Vol. 66:3; ISSN PRLTA; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640450* -- Fluid Physics-- Superfluidity
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
AMPLITUDES
CONTROL EQUIPMENT
COOLING
CRYOSTATS
DATA
DEMAGNETIZATION
EQUIPMENT
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FUNCTIONS
HELIUM 3
HELIUM 3 B
HELIUM ISOTOPES
INFORMATION
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
MECHANICS
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
QUANTIZATION
QUANTUM MECHANICS
QUASI PARTICLES
SIGNALS
STABLE ISOTOPES
SUPERFLUIDITY
THERMOSTATS
WAVE FUNCTIONS
WIRES