Drag force on an oscillating object in quantum turbulence

This paper reports results of the computation of the drag force exerted on an oscillating object in quantum turbulence in superfluid $^4$He. The drag force is calculated on the basis of numerical simulations of quantum turbulent flow about the object. The drag force is proportional to the square of the magnitude of the oscillation velocity, which is similar to that in classical turbulence at high Reynolds number. The drag coefficient is also calculated, and its value is found to be of the same order as that observed in previous experiments. The correspondence between quantum and classical turbulences is further clarified by examining the turbulence created by oscillating objects.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Surface spin waves in 3He-A, a probe for vortex phenomena in narrow gaps

We report measurements on a new collective spin-wave mode trapped by the textural boundary layers of 3 He-A within a stack of thin Mylar plates. The surface mode was seen as a new peak in the cw NMR spectrum measured at H0=284 Oe. Rotation of the sample, with Ω orthogonal to the gaps, increased the spectral weight of the surface mode, indicating an increase in the textural boundary layers caused by a counterflow-induced transition. This phenomenon was used to study vortex creation and persistent currents.Peer reviewe

Crossover from hydrodynamic to acoustic drag on quartz tuning forks in normal and superfluid 4He

We present measurements of the drag forces on quartz tuning forks oscillating at low velocities in normal and superfluid 4He. We have investigated the dissipative drag over a wide range of frequencies, from 6.5 to 600 kHz, by using arrays of forks with varying prong lengths and by exciting the forks in their fundamental and first overtone modes. At low frequencies the behavior is dominated by laminar hydrodynamic drag, governed by the fluid viscosity. At higher frequencies acoustic drag is dominant and is described well by a three-dimensional model of sound emission

On cavitation in liquid helium in a flow due to a vibrating quartz fork

Cavitation in normal and superfluid liquid ⁴He at saturated vapor pressure and slightly elevated pressures has been experimentally studied in a flow due to quartz forks vibrating at high amplitudes. Above the temperature- and pressure-dependent critical velocity, heterogeneous cavitation is observed both visually and electrically, as a breakdown of the resonance response of the fork.We compare our results with available experimental and discuss them using existing theoretical models. In particular, we show that thermal effects leading to local overheating of the vicinity of the fork have to be taken into account, especially in normal liquid ⁴He

Transition to superfluid turbulence governed by an intrinsic parameter

Hydrodynamic flow in both classical and quantum fluids can be either laminar or turbulent. To describe the latter, vortices in turbulent flow are modelled with stable vortex filaments. While this is an idealization in classical fluids, vortices are real topologically stable quantized objects in superfluids. Thus superfluid turbulence is thought to hold the key to new understanding on turbulence in general. The fermion superfluid 3He offers further possibilities owing to a large variation in its hydrodynamic characteristics over the experimentally accessible temperatures. While studying the hydrodynamics of the B phase of superfluid 3He, we discovered a sharp transition at 0.60Tc between two regimes, with regular behaviour at high-temperatures and turbulence at low-temperatures. Unlike in classical fluids, this transition is insensitive to velocity and occurs at a temperature where the dissipative vortex damping drops below a critical limit. This discovery resolves the conflict between existing high- and low-temperature measurements in 3He-B: At high temperatures in rotating flow a vortex loop injected into superflow has been observed to expand monotonically to a single rectilinear vortex line, while at very low temperatures a tangled network of quantized vortex lines can be generated in a quiescent bath with a vibrating wire. The solution of this conflict reveals a new intrinsic criterion for the existence of superfluid turbulence.Comment: Revtex file; 5 pages, 2 figure