Strong supercooling and stimulation of the A - B transition in superfluid sup 3 He

Journal Article · Mon Jul 06 00:00:00 EDT 1992 · Physical Review Letters; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.69.120· OSTI ID:7182516

Schiffer, P; O'Keefe, M T; Hildreth, M D; Fukuyama, H; Osheroff, D D ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)

We report the first studies of the {ital A}-{ital B} transition in superfluid {sup 3}He confined by microscopically smooth surfaces. The transition exhibited dramatic supercooling, down to 0.15{ital T}{sub {ital c}}. The lifetime {tau} of the metastable {ital A} phase has a temperature dependence consistent with Leggett's baked Alaska'' model based on nucleation by ionizing radiation. Radiation sources near the cryostat strongly reduce the lifetime, but do not alter its temperature dependence, and {tau} increases with increasing magnetic field in accord with Leggett's model.

• OSTI ID: 7182516
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters; (United States), Journal Name: Physical Review Letters; (United States) Vol. 69:1; ISSN PRLTA; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

665420* -- Superfluidity-- (1992-)
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
COOLING
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ENERGY LEVELS
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
EXCITED STATES
GAMMA RADIATION
GROWTH
HELIUM 3
HELIUM 3 A
HELIUM 3 B
HELIUM ISOTOPES
IONIZING RADIATIONS
ISOTOPES
LIFETIME
LIGHT NUCLEI
METASTABLE STATES
NUCLEATION
NUCLEI
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIATIONS
STABLE ISOTOPES
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE