590 research outputs found
Coexistence of Single and Double-Quantum Vortex Lines
We discuss the configurations in which singly and doubly quantized vortex
lines may coexist in a rotating superfluid. General principles of energy
minimization lead to the conclusion that in equilibrium the two vortex species
segregate within a cylindrical vortex cluster in two coaxial domains where the
singly quantized lines are in the outer annular region. This is confirmed with
simulation calculations on discrete vortex lines. Experimentally the
coexistence can be studied in rotating superfluid He-A. With cw NMR
techniques we find the radial distribution of the two vortex species to depend
on how the cluster is prepared: (i) By cooling through in rotation,
coexistence in the minimum energy configuration is confirmed. (ii) A glassy
agglomerate is formed if one starts with an equilibrium cluster of
single-quantum vortex lines and adds to it sequentially double-quantum lines,
by increasing the rotation velocity in the superfluid state. This proves that
the energy barriers, which separate different cluster configurations, are too
high for metastabilities to anneal.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures; Changed content, 15 pages, 14 figure
Composite defect extends cosmology - 3He analogy
Spin-mass vortices have been observed to form in rotating superfluid 3He-B
following the absorption of a thermal neutron and a rapid transition from the
normal to superfluid state. The spin-mass vortex is a composite defect which
consists of a planar soliton (wall) which terminates on a linear core (string).
This observation fits well within the framework of a cosmological scenario for
defect formation, known as the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. It suggests that in the
early Universe analogous cosmological defects might have formed.Comment: RevTeX file, 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett.,
modified according to referee repor
Nucleation of vortices by rapid thermal quench
We show that vortex nucleation in superfluid He by rapid thermal quench
in the presence of superflow is dominated by a transverse instability of the
moving normal-superfluid interface. Exact expressions for the instability
threshold as a function of supercurrent density and the front velocity are
found. The results are verified by numerical solution of the Ginzburg-Landau
equation.Comment: 4 Pages, 4 Figure, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
``Cosmological'' scenario for A-B phase transition in superfluid 3He
At a very rapid superfluid transition in He, follows after a reaction
with single neutron, the creation of topological defects (vortices) has
recently been demonstrated in accordance with the Kibble-Zurek scenario for the
cosmological analogue. We discuss here the extension of the Kibble-Zurek
scenario to the case when alternative symmetries may be broken and different
states nucleated independently. We have calculated the nucleation probability
of the various states of superfluid He during a superfluid transition. Our
results can explain the transition from supercooled phase to the phase,
triggered by nuclear reaction. The new scenario is an alternative to the
well-known ``baked Alaska'' scenario.Comment: RevTex file, 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Defect formation and local gauge invariance
We propose a new mechanism for formation of topological defects in a U(1)
model with a local gauge symmetry. This mechanism leads to definite
predictions, which are qualitatively different from those of the Kibble-Zurek
mechanism of global theories. We confirm these predictions in numerical
simulations, and they can also be tested in superconductor experiments. We
believe that the mechanism generalizes to more complicated theories.Comment: REVTeX, 4 pages, 2 figures. The explicit form of the Hamiltonian and
the equations of motion added. To appear in PRL (http://prl.aps.org/
Evidence for Thermally Activated Spontaneous Fluxoid Formation in Superconducting Thin-Film Rings
We have observed spontaneous fluxoid generation in thin-film rings of the
amorphous superconductor MoSi, cooled through the normal-superconducting
transition, as a function of quench rate and externally applied magnetic field,
using a variable sample temperature scanning SQUID microscope. Our results can
be explained using a model of freezout of thermally activated fluxoids,
mediated by the transport of bulk vortices across the ring walls. This
mechanism is complementary to a mechanism proposed by Kibble and Zurek, which
only relies on causality to produce a freezout of order parameter fluctuations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
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
Vortex Multiplication in Applied Flow: the Precursor to Superfluid Turbulence
The dynamics of quantized vortices in rotating He-B is investigated in
the low density (single-vortex) regime as a function of temperature. An abrupt
transition is observed at . 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 numerical calculations we suggest a mechanism responsible for vortex
formation at low temperatures and identify the mutual friction parameter which
governs its abrupt temperature dependence.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; version submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Defect Formation in Quench-Cooled Superfluid Phase Transition
We use neutron absorption in rotating 3He-B to heat locally a 10
micrometer-size volume into normal phase. When the heated region cools back in
microseconds, vortex lines are formed. We record with NMR the number of lines
as a function of superflow velocity and compare to the Kibble-Zurek theory of
vortex-loop freeze-out from a random network of defects. The measurements
confirm the calculated loop-size distribution and show that also the superfluid
state itself forms as a patchwork of competing A and B phase blobs. This
explains the A to B transition in supercooled neutron-irradiated 3He-A.Comment: RevTex file, 4 pages, 3 figures, resubmitted to Phys. Rev. Let
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