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The A-B transition in superfluid helium-3 under confinement in a thin slab geometry

Cornell Affiliated Author(s)

Author

N. Zhelev
T.S. Abhilash
E.N. Smith
R.G. Bennett
X. Rojas
L. Levitin
J. Saunders
J.M. Parpia

Abstract

The influence of confinement on the phases of superfluid helium-3 is studied using the torsional pendulum method. We focus on the transition between the A and B phases, where the A phase is stabilized by confinement and a spatially modulated stripe phase is predicted at the A-B phase boundary. Here we discuss results from superfluid helium-3 contained in a single 1.08-μm-thick nanofluidic cavity incorporated into a high-precision torsion pendulum, and map the phase diagram between 0.1 and 5.6 bar. We observe only small supercooling of the A phase, in comparison to bulk or when confined in aerogel, with evidence for a non-monotonic pressure dependence. This suggests that an intrinsic B-phase nucleation mechanism operates under confinement. Both the phase diagram and the relative superfluid fraction of the A and B phases, show that strong coupling is present at all pressures, with implications for the stability of the stripe phase. © The Author(s) 2017.

Date Published

Journal

Nature Communications

Volume

8

URL

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85021698315&doi=10.1038%2fncomms15963&partnerID=40&md5=5f7af5edd8db7884861590d8405923fc

DOI

10.1038/ncomms15963

Group (Lab)

Jeevak Parpia Group

Funding Source

DMR-1202991
1202991
EP/J022004/1

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