Dissipation in mesoscale superfluids

Abstract

We investigate the maximum speed at which a driven superfluid can flow through a narrow constriction with a size on the order of the healing length. Considering dissipation via the thermal nucleation of quantized vortices, we calculate the critical velocity for superfluid $^4$He and ultracold atomtronic circuits, identify fundamental length and velocity scales, and are thus able to present results obtained in widely different temperature and density ranges in a universal framework. For ultra-narrow channels we predict a drastic reduction in the critical velocity as the energy barrier for flow reducing thermally activated phase slip fluctuations is suppressed.