U.S.-France Cooperative Research: Nuclear Magnetic Properties of Superfluid 3He in Bulk and Confined Geometries

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

0128811 Lee This three-year award for U.S.-France collaboration in condensed matter physics involves research groups at Cornell University and the Center for Low Temperature Physics Research in Grenoble, France. David M. Lee, Jeevak M. Parpia and John Reppy lead the US effort; Yuriy Bunkov and Henri Godrin lead the French group. The focus of the research is superfluid 3He (helium) - a unique coherent quantum system whose order parameter shows the complex breaking of gauge and rotation symmetries. The main areas to be studied are the relaxation domains in bulk superfluid 3HeB and the nature of the superfluidity of liquid 3He in aerogel. The project involves nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies of 3He at high magnetic fields and at ultra low temperatures. The Cornell group's experiments include exploration of magnetic field dependence of the temperature of catastrophic relation and sound propagation and heat transport in aerogel as a function of magnetic field. This is complemented by French NMR studies of superfluid 3He in aerogel at the limit of ultra low temperatures and theoretical investigations and numerical simulations of catastrophic relaxation. This award represents the US side of joint proposals to the NSF and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). NSF will cover travel funds and living expenses of the US investigators and postdoctoral researchers. The CNRS will support visits to US of the French participants. The collaboration will advance understanding of 3He systems and applications in cosmology and high-energy physics.