Skip to main content
Log in

Spin relaxation phenomena in the 3He-A1 phase. Effects of magnetic field profile, spin counterflow, and 4He coverage

  • Published:
Journal of Low Temperature Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

We report observations on the effects of the magnetic field profile and surface coverage by 4He on the magnetically driven superflows in the 3He-A1 phase. When the gradient magnetic field profile is changed: (1) an unexpected reversal in the direction of superflow is observed, and (2) the relaxation time of the induced pressure increases in the warmer region of the A1, phase but remains constant in the colder region. When the surfaces in the apparatus are covered with 4He: (1) the induced pressure amplitude decreases and the relaxation time increases and saturates at about twice that of pure 3He in the warmer side of the phase, and (2) the relaxation time is independent of the 4He coverage in the colder side. We give qualitative interpretation of the observed effects in terms of spin density relaxations; in the warmer side of the phase the spin density relaxes via processes in both bulk liquid and surface boundary and in the colder side the spin relaxation is dominated by connective spin counterflows in the A2/A phase liquid in the fringing field of the static magnetic field.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. W. J. Gully, D. D. Osheroff, D. T. Lawson, R. C. Richardson, and D. M. Lee, Phys. Rev. A 8, 1633 (1973).

    Google Scholar 

  2. V. Ambegaokar and N. D. Mermin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 30, 81 (1973).

    Google Scholar 

  3. M. Liu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 43, 1740 (1979).

    Google Scholar 

  4. L. R. Corruccini and D. D. Osheroff, Phys. Rev. Lett. 34, 564 (1975).

    Google Scholar 

  5. The temperature gradient term is assumed to be negligible. The temperature change would occur by entropy dilution (or enrichment). In our experiments, the temperature change is calculated to be insignificant.

  6. K. Maki, Phys. Lett. 51A, 337 (1975).

    Google Scholar 

  7. R. Ruel and H. Kojima, Phys. Rev. B 28, 6582 (1983).

    Google Scholar 

  8. R. Ruel and H. Kojima, Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 2238 (1985).

    Google Scholar 

  9. S. T. Lu, Q. Jiang, and H. Kojima, Phys. Rev. Lett. 62, 1639 (1989).

    Google Scholar 

  10. M. Grabinski, Phys. Rev. Lett. 63, 814 (1989).

    Google Scholar 

  11. S. T. Lu, Ph.D. thesis, Rutgers University, unpublished.

  12. R. C. Richardson, Physica (Amsterdam) 126B, 298 (1984).

    Google Scholar 

  13. M. R. Freeman, R. S. Germain, E. V. Thuneberg, and R. C. Richardson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 60, 596 (1988).

    Google Scholar 

  14. D. Kim, T. Miki, O. Ishikawa, T. Hata, T. Kodama, and H. Kojima, Physica B 165 & 166, 637 (1990).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Our pure 3He sample had a measured 4He impurity of less than 20 ppm. To do our 4He coverage experiment, we started with the 99.95% purity grade 3He available from Isotec Inc. instead of polluting our original high purity 3He. The dominant surface area in the experimental cell comes from the silver powder and is measured by a BET method to be 15 m2.

  16. J. C. Wheatley, Quantum Fluids, D. F. Brewer, ed. (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1966).

    Google Scholar 

  17. A small phase shift due to finite lock-in time constant is taken into account.

  18. P. G. N. DeVegvar, Phys. Rev. B 30, 6349 (1984).

    Google Scholar 

  19. V. L. Golo, private communication.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jiang, Q., Kojima, H. Spin relaxation phenomena in the 3He-A1 phase. Effects of magnetic field profile, spin counterflow, and 4He coverage. J Low Temp Phys 88, 317–346 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00126599

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00126599

Keywords

Navigation