Orbital glass and spin glass states of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He-A in aerogel

Glass states of superfluid A-like phase of ³He in aerogel induced by random orientations of aerogel strands are investigated theoretically and experimentally. In anisotropic aerogel with stretching deformation two glass phases are observed. Both phases represent the anisotropic glass of the orbital ferromagnetic vector Ηthe orbital glass (OG). The phases differ by the spin structure: the spin nematic vector \(\hat d\) can be either in the ordered spin nematic (SN) state or in the disordered spin-glass (SG) state. The first phase (OG-SN) is formed under conventional cooling from normal ³He. The second phase (OG-SG) is metastable, being obtained by cooling through the superfluid transition temperature, when large enough resonant continuous radio-frequency excitation is applied. NMR signature of different phases allows us to measure the parameter of the global anisotropy of the orbital glass induced by deformation.     

Transverse and longitudinal nuclear magnetic resonance in superfluid <Superscript>3</Superscript>He in anisotropic aerogel

It is found that the properties of nuclear magnetic resonance of both superfluid phases of ³He in an anisotropic aerogel can be described in terms of the bulk superfluid order parameters with the orbital order parameter vector fixed by anisotropy of the aerogel sample. It is also shown that, by proper squeezing, it is possible to attain a sample with isotropic NMR properties.     

Orientation effect on superfluid <Superscript>3</Superscript>He in anisotropic aerogel

The orientation of the order parameter in the A-like and B-like phases of superfluid ³He immersed in uniaxially compressed aerogel is reported. With the use of NMR methods, it is found that the orbital momentum of the A-and B-like phases is oriented along the deformation. In the A-like phase, a relatively narrow NMR line with an anomalously large negative frequency shift is observed. The Leggett frequency in the A-like phase, which shows the same energy gap suppression as in the B-like phase, is measured. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

NMR on superfluid<Superscript>3</Superscript>He in aerogel

The transition to superfluidity of³He in high porosity (98.2%) acrogel has been observed by nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. The onset of the transition at all pressures above 13 bar is marked by a sharp increase in NMR frequency similar to that observed in bulk³He-A. This suggests that the aerogel/superfluid phase is highly homogeneous although both the transition temperature, T_c, and the amplitude of the order parameter are substantially suppressed. The acrogel strands are ≈ 50Å in diameter, much smaller than the superfluid coherence length. Consequently, we have attempted to interpret our observations as an impurity scattering problem. Based on our measurements of the magnetic field dependence of T_c it appears that both magnetic and potential scattering play important roles where the magnetic scattering can be associated with solid³He on the aerogel surface. This is determined by isotopic exchange with⁴He, a process which appears to stabilize a new superfluid state similar to the bulk B-phase.     

Nonlinear NMR in a superfluid B phase of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He in aerogel

The properties of liquid ³He in a low-density aerogel preliminarily covered with a few monolayers of ⁴He were studied by pulsed and nonlinear CW NMR techniques. It was found that an NMR frequency shift from the Larmor value exhibits a sharp increase at a magnetization tilting angle exceeding 104°. Nonlinear CW NMR signals related to the formation of a macroscopic region featuring homogeneous precession of the magnetization (homogeneous precession domain) were observed. The experimental results confirm that the low-temperature superfluid ³He phase in the aerogel is analogous to the B-phase in bulk ³He and indicate that the spin supercurrents play an important role in the spin dynamics of superfluid ³He in aerogel.     

Linear NMR in the Polar Phase of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He in Aerogel

³He is an example of the system with non-trivial Cooper paring. A few different superfluid phases are known in this system. Recently the new one, the polar phase, have been observed in ³He confined in nematically ordered aerogel. A number of various topological defects including half-quantum vortices can exist the polar phase. In this work, we present theoretical and numerical studies of linear nuclear magnetic resonance in the polar phase both in the uniform order-parameter texture and in the presence of half-quantum vortices.     

Nuclear magnetic relaxation of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He in contact with an aerogel above the Fermi temperature

The spin kinetics of ³He in an aerogel has been studied above the Fermi temperature. The magnetic relaxation times T ₁ and T ₂ of adsorbed, gaseous, and liquid ³He in a 95% silica aerogel at a temperature of 1.5 K have been determined as functions of frequency by means of pulse nuclear magnetic resonance. It has been found that the time T ₁ is linear in frequency in all three cases, whereas T ₂ is independent of frequency. To explain the observed behavior of the longitudinal relaxation rate, a theoretical model of relaxation in the adsorbed layer of ³He taking into account the filamentary structure of the aerogel is proposed.     

Linear theory of random textures of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He-A in an aerogel

The spatial variation of the orbital part of the order parameter of ³He-A in an aerogel has been represented as random walk of a unit vector l(r) over a sphere under the action of random anisotropy created by the system of strands of the aerogel. The statistical properties of the resulting random texture have been studied. For distances at which the variation of l is much smaller than its magnitude, the average square <δl²> of variation of l has been expressed in terms of the correlation function of the component of the random anisotropy tensor. Under simplifying assumptions on the structure of this correlation function, an analytical dependence of <δl²> on r has been obtained for isotropic and axially anisotropic aerogels. The average values of the squares of the projections of l on the axes of anisotropy for an anisotropic aerogel have been represented in terms of the parameters of the aerogel. The characteristic scale at which the long-range order is broken, as well as the magnitude of global anisotropy sufficient for the recovery of the long-range order, has been numerically estimated within a simple model. The values obtained have been compared to other estimates.     

Aerogel: Impurities in superfluid<Superscript>3</Superscript>He?

We present results of torsional oscillator experiments that are in progress or completed at Cornell. Taken together, these experiments suggest that the properties of superfluid³He in aerogel are substantially different from those exhibited by bulk superfluid³He. Featured are the differences between bulk and superfluid³He in aerogel with temperature and pressure. Comparisons to proposed models of³He in aerogel are also made.     

Metastability and superfluid fraction of the A-like and B phases of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He in aerogel in zero magnetic field

We report the low-frequency sound measurements of the metastable A-like (A*) phase of superfluid ³He confined within a 98% open aerogel matrix in zero magnetic field. The second soundlike (slow) mode provides an accurate determination of the superfluid fraction of (and the transition between) the A* and B phases. The A* and B phases exhibit stable coexistence in the presence of disorder, the ratio of their superfluid fractions (ρ _a ^A* /ρ _s ^B ) is much smaller than that of the bulk A and B phases, and argues that the A* and bulk A phases are distinct.     

On the thermodynamic equilibrium in the <Superscript>3</Superscript>He-aerogel system at low temperatures

A new method for studying the processes of the establishment of the thermodynamic equilibrium in the adsorbed ³He layers in highly porous media has been proposed. Using this method, the thermalization of adsorbed ³He on silica aerogel at a temperature of 1.5 K has been studied. The process of the establishment of the thermodynamic equilibrium has been controlled by measuring the pressure in an experimental cell, the amplitude of the NMR signal, and the nuclear spin-spin and spin-lattice relaxation times of adsorbed ³He. It has been shown that the establishment of the thermodynamic equilibrium in the adsorbed ³He-aerogel system is characterized by a time of 26 min.     

Random textures of the order parameter of superfluid 3He-B in aerogel

A phenomenological scheme of the observed properties of superfluid ³He in aerogel is proposed in the spirit of the Ginzburg-Landau theory. The effect of the aerogel on the order parameter is described by the random tensor field η_jl(r). The tensor field exerts a considerable disorienting effect on the order parameter in the A phase of ³He, but virtually unaffects the orientation of the order parameter in the B phase in zero magnetic field. The change in the texture of the order parameter emerging in the B phase in aerogel in a magnetic field is considered. It is shown that the mean square of the angle between the magnetic field direction and the anisotropy axis of the B phase is proportional to the third power of the magnetic field strength. The fluctuations of the direction of the magnetic anisotropy axis of ³He-B are correlated over the familiar “healing length”, which is inversely proportional to the field strength and has a macroscopic scale.     

Microscopic description of diffractive deuteron breakup by <Superscript>3</Superscript>He nuclei

A microscopic formalism for describing observed cross sections for deuteron breakup by threenucleon nuclei was developed on the basis of the diffraction nuclear model. A general formula that describes the amplitude for the reaction ²H(³He, ³Hep)n and which involves only one adjustable parameter was obtained by using expansions of the integrands involved in terms of a Gaussian basis. This formula was used to analyze experimental data on the exclusive cross sections for deuteron breakup by ³He nuclei at the projectile energy of 89.4MeV. The importance of employing, in calculations, a deuteron wave function that has a correct asymptotic behavior at large nucleon–nucleon distances was demonstrated.     

Interaction of two magnetic resonance modes in the polar phase of superfluid <Superscript>3</Superscript>He

We report results of low frequency nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments in the superfluid polar phase of ³He, which is stabilized by a new type of “nematic” aerogel—nafen. We have found that an interaction between transverse and longitudinal NMR modes may essentially influence the spin dynamics. Theoretical formulas for NMR resonant frequencies are derived and applied for interpretation of the experimental results.     

Low-temperature instability of uniform spin precession in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis> phase of pure <Superscript>3</Superscript>He and <Superscript>3</Superscript>He in an aerogel

The magnetic-field dependences of the threshold temperature of the low-temperature instability of uniform spin precession in pure ³He-B and ³He-B in an aerogel have been determined for the bulk mechanism. These dependences appear to be different. The theoretical dependence of the threshold temperature for the pure case has been compared with the experimental dependence. The threshold temperature of the instability for ³He in the aerogel has been estimated for typical experimental conditions.     

Momentum distributions of <Superscript>4</Superscript>He nuclei from the <Superscript>6</Superscript>He and <Superscript>6</Superscript>Li breakup

Experimental data on the momentum distributions of ⁴He nuclei originating from ⁶He and ⁶Li breakup on various targets are presented over a wide beam energy range. The experiment with ⁶He was performed at the DRIBs accelerator complex for radioactive beams at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, Dubna). The intensity of the ⁶He beam used was 5 × 10⁶ particles per second and its energy was 10 MeV per nucleon. The momentum distributions of breakup products were measured by means of the MSP-144 magnetic spectrometer. The distribution width was shown to be virtually independent of the target mass. A small value of this width, σ ～ 28 MeV/c, confirms the presence of a halo in ⁶He. The measurements performed with ⁶Li beams of energy 18 and 46 MeV per nucleon at the U-400M accelerator yielded a width value of σ ～ 50 MeV/c for the momentum distributions of ⁴He nuclei, which is intermediate between that for ⁶He and those for stable nuclei. A compilation of the widths of the momentum distributions of fragments originating from the breakup of various nuclei is presented versus the binding energy of one or two neutrons in these nuclei, the target mass and the projectile energy.     

Boundary between bcc and hcp lattices in a <Superscript>4</Superscript>He quantum crystal

The mechanism of transition between bcc and hcp phases, which is applicable to both classical and quantum crystals, has been considered at the microscopic level. The relative orientations of the lattices that provide coherent phase matching are specified. It is suggested that phase boundaries are coherent and atomic displacements do not exceed the unit-cell size. A new order parameter—relative displacement of atomic layers—is introduced. The phase boundary is described within the double-and triple-well potential models. The relationship of the lattice constant and barrier height with the parameters of these potentials has been found, as well as the shape and energy of the phase boundary. A mechanism leading to a decrease in the barrier height for the phase boundary in a quantum crystal is proposed. This mechanism makes it possible to explain the results of recent experimental investigations of the nucleation occurring during the bcc-hcp transition in solid ⁴He.     

Soft-core Interaction for the <Superscript>4,6</Superscript>He + <Superscript>64</Superscript>Zn Fusion Reactions

In this paper, the cross section of the ⁴He + ⁶⁴Zn and ⁶He + ⁶⁴Zn reactions, at bombarding energies above and below the fusion barrier, has been investigated. Soft-core nucleon-nucleon interaction and the Monte Carlo method have been employed for studying the nuclear potential of the projectile-target system. One adjustable parameter has been chosen in this study. This parameter can change the depth of the soft-core potential. It has to be adjusted so that the calculated elastic scattering and fusion cross sections are in acceptable agreement with experimental data. Our results indicate that an increase in energy decreases the depth parameter of the soft-core nucleon-nucleon potential obtained from careful analysis the ⁴He + ⁶⁴Zn and ⁶He + ⁶⁴Zn reactions. Likewise, by comparing the results obtained from both reactions, one can observe that the calculated depth parameter for the reaction related to ⁶He is larger than that for ⁴He at the same energy, in particular at the sub-barrier energies. We try to explain this behavior.     

Radiative strength function and the pygmy dipole resonance in <Superscript>208</Superscript>Pb and <Superscript>70</Superscript>Ni

The pygmy-resonance parameters and the E1 strength function are derived for ²⁰⁸Pb using a fully self-consistent microscopic formalism recently developed for magic nuclei, which takes into account quasiparticle phonon interactions (or coupling to phonons) in addition to the random phase approximation. For the radiative strength function of ²⁰⁸Pb at energies above 5 MeV, the experimental data of the Oslo group are adequately described by our predictions, whereby the important role of coupling to phonons is confirmed. By comparing the measurements based on the (³He, ³He′γ) and (γ, γ′) reactions, we discuss the physical properties of the radiative strength function measured for ²⁰⁸Pb. For the neutron-rich ⁷⁰Ni nucleus, predictions for the radiative strength function and the pygmy resonance are obtained using a partially self-consistent approach, which invokes the Skyrme forces in deriving the mean field, effective nucleon–nucleon interaction, and phonon characteristics.