Superfluid helium-3 in confined quarters

William P. Halperin; Jeevak M. Parpia; James A. Sauls

doi:10.1063/PT.3.4067

Superfluid helium-3 in confined quarters

William P. Halperin, Jeevak M. Parpia, James A. Sauls

Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Liquid helium-3 and helium-4 are remarkable substances. They are quantum liquids, meaning that their behavior is governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. Because of their small atomic mass, each isotope exists in a liquid state down to the temperature of absolute zero. And at sufficiently low temperature, each becomes a superfluid. However, the two isotopes have very different properties because ³He is a fermion and ⁴He is a boson. As a result of their different statistics, superfluidity in ³He appears at a temperature one-thousandth of that at which superfluid ⁴He forms. A second difference is that ³He has multiple thermodynamic phases.

Original language	English (US)
Pages	30-36
Number of pages	7
Volume	71
No	11
Specialist publication	Physics Today
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.4067
State	Published - Nov 1 2018

Funding

We acknowledge support from the NSF division of materials research (Halperin, DMR-1602542; Parpia, DMR-1708341; and Sauls, DMR-1508730).

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Physics and Astronomy

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10.1063/PT.3.4067

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AB - Liquid helium-3 and helium-4 are remarkable substances. They are quantum liquids, meaning that their behavior is governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. Because of their small atomic mass, each isotope exists in a liquid state down to the temperature of absolute zero. And at sufficiently low temperature, each becomes a superfluid. However, the two isotopes have very different properties because 3He is a fermion and 4He is a boson. As a result of their different statistics, superfluidity in 3He appears at a temperature one-thousandth of that at which superfluid 4He forms. A second difference is that 3He has multiple thermodynamic phases.

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Superfluid helium-3 in confined quarters

Abstract

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ASJC Scopus subject areas

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