Abstract
Quantum Fluids When a vessel filled with a superfluid is rotated, the superfluid, instead of moving with the vessel the way water would, develops an array of whirlpools called vortices. The flow around a vortex is “quantized,” characterized by discrete, integer numbers. It has long been suspected that in a particular kind of superfluid—3He at very low temperatures—it would be possible to observe vortices that are associated with half-integer numbers. Autti et al. observed the signature of these half-quantum vortices (HQVs) in the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of superfluid 3He confined in a porous medium. Pairs of HQVs caused the appearance of an additional NMR peak, whose position and dependence on the various parameters were consistent with theoretical expectations. Phys. Rev. Lett. 117 , 255301 (2016).
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