Helium three

John C. Wheatley

doi:10.1063/1.3023313

Features

/

Article

Helium three

FEB 01, 1976

Magnetic superfluid phases in the low‐millikelvin region, a Josephson “ringing” effect and fluid anisotropy are among the exotic properties of this surprising substance.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3023313

John C. Wheatley

The past two decades have seen great progress in our understanding of the properties of condensed helium 3. Research on ${He}^{3}$ in our lab (see figure 1 for its modern form) began in 1958. At that time the properties of the more abundant isotope, helium 4, were rather well known: A phase transition at about 2 K transforms it from a normal liquid to a superfluid, a liquid that under some conditions will flow without viscous drag. The explanation for this behavior is rooted in concepts from the condensation of an ideal Bose–Einstein gas. But ${He}^{3}$ obeys Fermi–Dirac statistics; would it show any likeness to a Fermi gas or liquid? Would it also exhibit a transition to superfluidity?

This article is only available in PDF format

References

1. A. A. Abrikosov, I. M. Khalatnikov, Repts. Progr. Phys. 22, 329 (1959).https://doi.org/RPPHAG
2. H. R. HartJr., J. C. Wheatley, Phys. Rev. Lett. 4, 3 (1960).https://doi.org/PRLTAO
3. W. R. Abel, A. C. Anderson, W. C. Black, J. C. Wheatley, Physics 1, 337 (1965).
4. A. J. Leggett, Rev. Mod. Phys. 47, 331 (1975).https://doi.org/RMPHAT
5. L. D. Landau, JETP 5, 101 (1957).
6. D. D. Osheroff, R. C. Richardson, D. M. Lee, Phys. Rev. Lett. 28, 885 (1972).https://doi.org/PRLTAO
7. J. C. Wheatley, Rev. Mod. Phys. 47, 415 (1975).https://doi.org/RMPHAT
8. J. C. Wheatley, in Low Temperature Physics–LT 14 (M. Krusius, M. Vuorio, eds.), volume 5, North‐Holland, Amsterdam (1975), page 6.

More about the authors

John C. Wheatley, University of California, San Diego.