Ring vortex destabilization in supersaturated 3He-4He liquid mixtures at low temperatures

A few years after the discovery of Bose Einstein condensation in several gases, it is interesting to look back at some properties of superfluid helium. After a short historical review, I comment shortly on boiling and evaporation, then on the role of rotons and vortices in the existence of a critical velocity in superfluid helium. I finally discuss the existence of a condensate in a liquid with strong interactions, and the pressure variation of its superfluid transition tempe...

We have measured the critical velocity v_c at which 3He-A in a rotating cylinder becomes unstable against the formation of quantized vortex lines with continuous (singularity-free) core structure. We find that v_c is distributed between a maximum and minimum limit, which we ascribe to a dependence on the texture of the orbital angular momentum l(r) in the cylinder. Slow cool down through T_c in rotation yields l(r) textures for which the measured v_c's are in good agreement w...

Liquid 4He has been studied extensively for almost a century, but there are still a number of outstanding weak or missing links in our comprehension of it. This paper reviews some of the principal paths taken in previous research and then proceeds to fill gaps and create an integrated picture with more complete understanding through first principles treatment of a realistic model that starts with a microscopic, atomistic description of the liquid. Newly derived results for vo...

Mixed $^3$He-$^4$He droplets created by hydrodynamic instability of a cryogenic fluid-jet may acquire angular momentum during their passage through the nozzle of the experimental apparatus. These free-standing droplets cool down to very low temperatures undergoing isotopic segregation, developing a nearly pure $^3$He crust surrounding a very $^4$He-rich superfluid core. Here, the stability and appearance of rotating mixed helium droplets are investigated using Density Functio...

We propose a new model for the nature of the nucleation of solid from the superfluid phases of $^4$He and $^3$He. Unique to the superfluid phases the solid nucleation involves an extremely fast solidification front. This results in a local release of pressure and a velocity field in the superfluid. The superfluid velocity in turn facilitates the nucleation of vortex-loops. The kinetic energy gain of this process balances the surface tension, as the solid surface is quickly co...

Fluid parts of the phase diagram of ${}^3$He -${}^4$He mixtures are obtained from a mean-field analysis of a suitable lattice gas model for binary liquid mixtures. The proposed model takes into account the continuous rotational symmetry O(2) of the superfluid degrees of freedom associated with ${}^4$He and includes the occurrence of vacancies. This latter degree of freedom allows the model to exhibit a vapor phase and hence can provide the theoretical framework to describe th...

In rotating 3He superfluids the Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability of the AB interface has been found to follow the theoretical model above 0.4 Tc. A deviation from this dependence has been assumed possible at the lowest temperatures. Our NMR and thermal bolometer measurements down to 0.2 Tc show that the critical KH rotation velocity follows the extrapolation from higher temperatures. We interpret this to mean that the KH instability is a bulk phenomenon and is not compromise...

The dynamics of quantized vortices in rotating $^3$He-B is investigated in the low density (single-vortex) regime as a function of temperature. An abrupt transition is observed at $0.5 T_{\rm c}$. Above this temperature the number of vortex lines remains constant, as they evolve to their equilibrium positions. Below this temperature the number of vortices increases linearly in time until the vortex density has grown sufficiently for turbulence to switch on. On the basis of nu...

In this article, we review the research on the dynamics of quantized vortices in superfluid helium and rotating Bose-Einstein condensates. First, after briefly reviewing the earlier research and describing the current problems on quantized vortices in superfluid $^4$He, we focus our review on superfluid turbulence and vortex filament dynamics. Superfluid turbulence was recently shown to have an energy spectrum consistent with the Kolmogorov law, which is an important statisti...

Superfluid 3He-A displays the largest variety in vortex structure among the presently known coherent quantum systems. The experimentally verified information comes mostly from NMR measurements on the rotating fluid, from which the order-parameter texture can often be worked out. The various vortex structures differ in the topology of their order-parameter field, in energy, critical velocity, and in their response to temporal variations in the externally applied flow. They req...