Critical temperature and critical current of thin-film superfluid /sup 3/He

Journal Article · Tue Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1988 · J. Low Temp. Phys.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00682165· OSTI ID:6763455

Daunt, J G; Harris-Lowe, R F; Harrison, J P; Sachrajda, A; Steel, S; Turkington, R R; Zawadski, P

Superfluid /sup 3/He film flow over the rim of a copper beaker has been measured. The flow rate was measured as a function of temperature and as a function of depth of /sup 3/He below the rim or film thickness at the rim. The critical current, calculated from the flow rate, varied as (1-T/T/sub c//sup p/)/sup 3/2/ as expected for pair-breaking; T/sub c//sup p/ is a film-thickness-dependent critical temperature. However, the magnitude of the current was an order of magnitude smaller than expected for pair-breaking, in agreement with other experiments that have demonstrated a lower dissipation mechanism in superfluid /sup 3/He. The suppression of the critical temperature T/sub c//sup p//T/sub c//sup b/, where T/sub c//sup b/ = 0.93 mK is the bulk /sup 3/He transition temperature, varied from 0.93 to 0.7 as the film thickness at the rim varied from 120 to 90 nm. These ratios are larger than expected from Ginzburg-Landau or microscopic theory of superfluid /sup 3/He-B.

• Research Organization: Queen's Univ., Kingston, Ontario (Canada)
• OSTI ID: 6763455
• Journal Information: J. Low Temp. Phys.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Low Temp. Phys.; (United States) Vol. 70:5-6; ISSN JLTPA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640450* -- Fluid Physics-- Superfluidity
656100 -- Condensed Matter Physics-- Superconductivity
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CRITICAL CURRENT
CURRENTS
DIMENSIONS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FILM FLOW
FILMS
FLOW RATE
FLUID FLOW
FLUID MECHANICS
GEOMETRY
GINZBURG-LANDAU THEORY
HELIUM 3
HELIUM 3 B
HELIUM ISOTOPES
HYDRODYNAMICS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MATHEMATICS
MECHANICS
NUCLEI
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
STABLE ISOTOPES
SUPERCONDUCTING FILMS
SUPERFLUIDITY
SURFACE PROPERTIES
SURFACE TENSION
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE
ULTRALOW TEMPERATURE