Superfluidity of He4 confined in nanoporous media

Abstract

We have examined superfluid properties of He4 confined to a nanoporous Gelsil glass that has nanopores 2.5nm in diameter. The pressure-temperature phase diagram was determined by torsional oscillator, heat capacity, and pressure studies. The superfluid transition temperature Tc approaches zero at 3.4MPa, indicating a novel quantum superfluid transition. By heat capacity measurements, the nonsuperfluid phase adjacent to the superfluid and solid phases is identified to be a nanometer-scale, localized Bose condensation state, in which global phase coherence is destroyed. At high pressures, the superfluid density has a T-linear term, and Tc is proportional to the zero-temperature superfluid density. These results strongly suggest that phase fluctuations in the superfluid order parameter play a dominant role on the phase diagram and superfluid properties.