Quantum nucleation of vortices in the flow of superfluid sup 4 He through an orifice

Journal Article · Mon Jul 13 04:00:00 EDT 1992 · Physical Review Letters; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.69.327· OSTI ID:7182515

Ihas, G G; Avenel, O; Aarts, R; Salmelin, R ^[1]; Varoquaux, E ^[2]

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1. Service de Physique de l'Etat Condense, Centre d'Etudes de Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette CEDEX (France)
2. Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Batment 510, Universite Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay (France)

Flow measurements in ultrapure {sup 4}He through a micron-size orifice at millikelvin temperatures show, for the first time, the transition from thermal to quantum nucleation of nanometer-size vortices below a crossover temperature of 0.147 K. These observations establish the close relationship between this type of critical flow and negative-ion motion in superfluid {sup 4}He and strongly suggest that the underlying mechanism, the nucleation of vortex half-rings, is identical.

• OSTI ID: 7182515
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters; (United States), Journal Name: Physical Review Letters; (United States) Vol. 69:2; ISSN PRLTA; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

665420* -- Superfluidity-- (1992-)
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CRITICAL FLOW
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FLUID FLOW
FLUIDS
HELIUM 4
HELIUM II
HELIUM ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MECHANICS
NUCLEATION
NUCLEI
OPENINGS
ORIFICES
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
QUANTIZATION
QUANTUM FLUIDS
QUANTUM MECHANICS
STABLE ISOTOPES
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
VELOCITY
VORTICES