Parametric instability in uniform spin precession in superfluid 3He-B

Abstract

In order to explain the “catastrophic spin relaxation” observed in superfluid 3He-B, the stability of spatially uniform spin precession in this liquid relative to the parametric excitation of spin waves has been analyzed. It is shown that uniform spin precession becomes unstable at low temperatures (Suhl instability). At zero temperature, the growth increments are determined for all spin wave branches. The temperature at which the transition from stable spin precession to instability takes place is estimated.