Observation of a Dislocation-Related Interfacial Friction Mechanism in Mobile Solid $^{4}$He

Abstract

We report a study of the temperature and stress dependence of the friction associated with a relative motion of crystallites of solid $^{4}$He in contact with each other. A situation where such motion exists emerges spontaneously during a disordering of a single crystal contained inside an annular sample space of a torsional oscillator (TO). Under the torque applied by the oscillating walls of the TO these crystallites move relative to each other, generating measurable dissipation at their interface. We studied this friction between 0.5 and 1.8 K in solid samples grown from commercially pure $^{4}$He and from a 100 ppm $^{3}$He–$^{4}$He mixture. The data were analyzed by modeling the TO as a driven harmonic oscillator. In this model, an analysis of the resonant frequency and amplitude of the TO yields the temperature dependence of the friction coefficient. By fitting the data to specific forms, we found that over our temperature range, the dominant friction mechanism associated with the interfacial motion of the crystallites results from climb of individual dislocations. The characteristic energy scale associated with this friction can be 3 or 6 K, depending on the sample. The motion of the solid in the presence of such friction can perhaps be described as the low limit of “slip–stick” motion.