Search results for "superfluid helium"
showing 10 items of 46 documents
Coupled normal fluid and superfluid profiles of turbulent helium II in channels
2015
We perform fully coupled two--dimensional numerical simulations of plane channel helium II counterflows with vortex--line density typical of experiments. The main features of our approach are the inclusion of the back reaction of the superfluid vortices on the normal fluid and the presence of solid boundaries. Despite the reduced dimensionality, our model is realistic enough to reproduce vortex density distributions across the channel recently calculated in three--dimensions. We focus on the coarse--grained superfluid and normal fluid velocity profiles, recovering the normal fluid profile recently observed employing a technique based on laser--induced fluorescence of metastable helium molec…
Energy and temperature of superfluid turbulent vortex tangles
2007
We consider three aspects of turbulent vortex tangles in superfluids. First, we outline some contributions to the Vinen’s equation for the time evolution of the vortex line density, related to the presence of pinned vortices incorporating the effects of the walls. Afterwards, we analyze some aspects of the energy balance of the vortex tangle, related to frictional dissipation and to vortex formation and destruction. Finally, we explore the concept of an effective temperature for the vortex tangle, related to the average energy of the vortex loops and to the diffusion coefficient of vortex lines. The combination of these ideas suggests some formal similarities with other kinds of driven none…
Transition to ballistic regime for heat transport in helium II
2014
The size-dependent and flux-dependent effective thermal conductivity of narrow capillaries filled with superfluid helium is analyzed from a thermodynamic continuum perspective. The classical Landau evaluation of the effective thermal conductivity of quiescent superfluid, or the Gorter-Mellinck regime of turbulent superfluids, are extended to describe the transition to ballistic regime in narrow channels wherein the radius $R$ is comparable to (or smaller than) the phonon mean-free path $\ell$ in superfluid helium. To do so we start from an extended equation for the heat flux incorporating non-local terms, and take into consideration a heat slip flow along the walls of the tube. This leads f…
Non-equilibrium thermodynamics, heat transport and thermal waves in laminar and turbulent superfluid helium
2018
This review paper puts together some results concerning non equilibrium thermodynamics and heat transport properties of superfluid He II. A one-fluid extended model of superfluid helium, which considers heat flux as an additional independent variable, is presented, its microscopic bases are analyzed, and compared with the well known two-fluid model. In laminar situations, the fundamental fields are density, velocity, absolute temperature, and heat flux. Such a theory is able to describe the thermomechanical phenomena, the propagation of two sounds in liquid helium, and of fourth sound in superleak. It also leads in a natural way to a two-fluid model on purely macroscopical grounds and allow…
K-ϵ-L model in turbulent superfluid helium
2020
Abstract We generalize the K − ϵ model of classical turbulence to superfluid helium. In a classical viscous fluid the phenomenological eddy viscosity characterizing the effects of turbulence depends on the turbulent kinetic energy K and the dissipation function ϵ , which are mainly related to the fluctuations of the velocity field and of its gradient. In superfluid helium, instead, we consider the necessary coefficients for describing the effects of classical and quantum turbulence, involving fluctuations of the velocity, the heat flux, and the vortex line density of the quantized vortex lines. By splitting the several fields into a time-average part and a fluctuating part, some expressions…
Injection of atoms and molecules in a superfluid helium fountain: Cu and Cu2He(n) (n = 1, ..., ∞).
2011
We introduce an experimental platform designed around a thermomechanical helium fountain, which is aimed at investigating spectroscopy and dynamics of atoms and molecules in the superfluid and at its vapor interface. Laser ablation of copper, efficient cooling and transport of Cu and Cu(2) through helium vapor (1.5 K < T < 20 K), formation of linear and T-shaped Cu(2)-He complexes, and their continuous evolution into large Cu(2)-He(n) clusters and droplets are among the processes that are illustrated. Reflection is the dominant quantum scattering channel of translationally cold copper atoms (T = 1.7 K) at the fountain interface. Cu(2) dimers mainly travel through the fountain unimpeded. How…
Spatial development of multiple-gap states in nonequilibrium superconductors
1985
We have studied the gap instability in a superconductor under tunneling injection at high voltages by probing the spatial distribution of the phonon emission. A high sensitivity was achieved by using the fountain pressure of superfluid helium for detecting the phonons. Spatial structures were observed at gap depressions as small as 2%. From their spatial development we find that the quasiparticles diffuse into regions where their density is higher.
Time-domain analysis of electronic spectra in superfluid 4He
2004
Abstract Electronic absorption spectra of impurities in superfluid helium is developed in time domain, using time-dependent density functional theory to describe liquid 4 He and time-dependent perturbation theory to describe the electronic degrees of freedom of the impurity. Angularly isotropic potentials are used to describe the molecule–helium interactions in the ground and excited electronic states. The calculations rationalize experimentally observed phonon side-bands in 4 He droplets and in bulk helium, and allow assignments of spectral features to specific motions of the liquid.
Refrigeration of an array of cylindrical nanosystems by superfluid helium counterflow
2017
Abstract Motivated by the challenge of computer refrigeration, we study the limits set by the transition to quantum turbulence on the cooling of an array of heat-producing cylindrical nanosystems by means of superfluid-helium counterflow. The effective thermal conductivity in laminar counterflow superfluid helium is obtained in channels with rectangular cross section, through arrays of mutually parallel cylinders and in the combined situation of arrays of orthogonal cylinders inside the rectangular channel. The maximum cooling capacity is analyzed on the condition that turbulence is avoided and that the highest temperature does not exceed the lambda temperature.
Stationary heat flux profile in turbulent helium II in a semi-infinite cylindrical channel
2012
In this paper we determine a set of solutions for a system of partial dif- ferential equations describing stationary heat flux in a semi-infinite cylindrical channel filled with turbulent superfluid helium. This study uses a continuous model for liquid helium II, derived from Extended Thermodynamics, in which the heat flux q is a fundamental variable. The influence of the vortex line den- sity on the radial distribution of the heat flux is especially discussed.