Discover
/
Article

“Fourth sound” in helium‐three confirms superfluidity

APR 01, 1974

DOI: 10.1063/1.3128530

An experiment at the University of California at La Jolla, based on the propagation of fourth sound, appears to provide the first really direct evidence for superfluidity in He3. Over the past two years (PHYSICS TODAY, October 1972, page 17 and July 1973, page 17), a variety of experiments have studied the curious behavior of He3 below a few millidegrees Kelvin, where it undergoes two transitions, both in the liquid—“A” near 2.6 mK and “B” near 2.0 mK (at a melting pressure near 34.4 bar). These experiments measured various properties characteristic of a superfluid, ranging from nuclear magnetic resonance to viscosity.

This Content Appeared In
pt-cover_1974_04.jpeg

Volume 27, Number 4

Related content
/
Article
/
Article
/
Article
/
Article
/
Article
Despite the tumultuous history of the near-Earth object’s parent body, water may have been preserved in the asteroid for about a billion years.

Get PT in your inbox

Physics Today - The Week in Physics

The Week in Physics" is likely a reference to the regular updates or summaries of new physics research, such as those found in publications like Physics Today from AIP Publishing or on news aggregators like Phys.org.

Physics Today - Table of Contents
Physics Today - Whitepapers & Webinars
By signing up you agree to allow AIP to send you email newsletters. You further agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.