Collective motion of quantized vortex lines in rotating superfluid 3He-B.

Abstract

Insight in the dynamics of quantized vortex lines has been obtained by performing NMR measurements in uniformly rotating superfluid [sup 3]He-[ital B]. Compared to superfluid [sup 4]He, in [sup 3]He-[ital B] the viscosity of the normal component is three orders of magnitude larger and the pinning of vortices is weaker. The collective modes governing the hydrodynamic response of an array of vortex lines are highly overdamped. Two distinct modes are identified: (1) a relatively fast mutual-friction-resisted mode, which controls the redistribution of the vortex density on a time scale of a few seconds, and (2) an exponentially relaxing slow mode with a time constant of a few minutes, which governs asymptotically the approach to equilibrium at nearly constant vortex density. Measurement of the fast motion allows us to extract the dissipative mutual friction. The slow mode is dominated by the elastic tension along the vortex line and by weak pinning at the top and bottom surfaces of the rotating container. With increasing vortex density the surface pinning becomes a collective process, in which coherently moving groups of vortices are pinned in unison. Collective pinning is a result of the shear elasticity related to the crystalline order of the vortex lattice.more » Our measurements on the slow mode indicate that the crystalline correlation extends over many lattice spacings.« less