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Lotnyk D, Eyal A, Zhelev N, Abhilash TS, Smith EN, Terilli M, Wilson J, Mueller E, Einzel D, Saunders J, Parpia JM. Thermal transport of helium-3 in a strongly confining channel. Nat Commun 2020; 11:4843. [PMID: 32973182 PMCID: PMC7515880 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18662-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2019] [Accepted: 09/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The investigation of transport properties in normal liquid helium-3 and its topological superfluid phases provides insights into related phenomena in electron fluids, topological materials, and putative topological superconductors. It relies on the measurement of mass, heat, and spin currents, due to system neutrality. Of particular interest is transport in strongly confining channels of height approaching the superfluid coherence length, to enhance the relative contribution of surface excitations, and suppress hydrodynamic counterflow. Here we report on the thermal conduction of helium-3 in a 1.1 μm high channel. In the normal state we observe a diffusive thermal conductivity that is approximately temperature independent, consistent with interference of bulk and boundary scattering. In the superfluid, the thermal conductivity is only weakly temperature dependent, requiring detailed theoretical analysis. An anomalous thermal response is detected in the superfluid which we propose arises from the emission of a flux of surface excitations from the channel.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Lotnyk
- Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - A Eyal
- Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
- Physics Department, Technion, Haifa, Israel
| | - N Zhelev
- Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - T S Abhilash
- Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Espoo, Finland
| | - E N Smith
- Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - M Terilli
- Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - J Wilson
- Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
- SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo, NY, 14454, USA
| | - E Mueller
- Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - D Einzel
- Walther Meissner Institut, Garching, Germany
| | - J Saunders
- Department of Physics, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, Surrey, UK
| | - J M Parpia
- Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
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