No Arabic abstract
A micro-electro-mechanical system vibrating in its shear mode was used to study the viscosity of normal liquid $^3$He from 20mK to 770mK at 3bar, 21bar, and 29bar. The damping coefficient of the oscillator was determined by frequency sweeps through its resonance at each temperature. Using a slide film damping model, the viscosity of the fluid was obtained. Our viscosity values are compared with previous measurements and with calculated values from Fermi liquid theory. The crossover from the classical to the Fermi liquid regime is manifest in the temperature dependence of viscosity. In the Fermi liquid regime, the temperature dependence of viscosity changes from $T^{-1}$ to $T^{-2}$ on cooling, indicating a transition from the Stokes flow to the Couette flow regime.
The mechanical resonance properties of a micro-electro-mechanical oscillator with a gap of 1.25 $mu$m was studied in superfluid $^3$He-B at various pressures. The oscillator was driven in the linear damping regime where the damping coefficient is independent of the oscillator velocity. The quality factor of the oscillator remains low ($Qapprox 80$) down to 0.1 $T_c$, 4 orders of magnitude less than the intrinsic quality factor measured in vacuum at 4 K. In addition to the Boltzmann temperature dependent contribution to the damping, a damping proportional to temperature was found to dominate at low temperatures. We propose a multiple scattering mechanism of the surface Andreev bound states to be a possible cause for the anomalous damping.
We report a comprehensive investigation of the effects of quantum turbulence and quantized vorticity in superfluid $^4$He on the motion of a micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) resonator. We find that the MEMS is uniquely sensitive to quantum turbulence present in the fluid. To generate turbulence in the fluid, a quartz tuning fork (TF) is placed in proximity to the MEMS and driven at large amplitude. We observe that at low velocity, the MEMS is damped by the turbulence, and that above a critical velocity, $v_c simeq 5,$mm,s$^{-1}$, the turbulent damping is greatly reduced. We find that above $v_c$, the damping of the MEMS is reduced further for increasing velocity, indicating a velocity dependent coupling between the surface of the MEMS and the quantized vortices constituting the turbulence. We propose a model of the interaction between vortices in the fluid and the surface of the MEMS. The sensitivity of these devices to a small number of vortices and the almost unlimited customization of MEMS open the door to a more complete understanding of the interaction between quantized vortices and oscillating structures, which in turn provides a new route for the investigation of the dynamics of single vortices.
Ultralow dissipation plays an important role in sensing applications and exploring macroscopic quantum phenomena using micro-and nano-mechanical systems. We report a diamagnetic-levitated micro-mechanical oscillator operating at a low temperature of 3K with measured dissipation as low as 0.59 $mu$Hz and a quality factor as high as $2 times 10^7$. To the best of our knowledge the achieved dissipation is the lowest in micro- and nano-mechanical systems to date, orders of magnitude improvement over the reported state-of-the-art systems based on different principles. The cryogenic diamagnetic-levitated oscillator described here is applicable to a wide range of mass, making it a good candidate for measuring both force and acceleration with ultra-high sensitivity. By virtue of the naturally existing strong magnetic gradient, this system has great potential in quantum spin mechanics study.
We demonstrate an accurate method to control the motion of a micromechanical oscillator in contact with a thermal bath. The experiment is carried out on the cantilever tip of an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). Applying an appropriate time dependent external force, we decrease the time necessary to reach equilibrium by two orders of magnitude compared to the intrinsic equilibration time. Finally, we analyze the energetic cost of such a fast equilibration, by measuring with kBT accuracy the energy exchanges along the process.
Recent studies of turbulence in superfluid Helium indicate that turbulence in quantum fluids obeys a Kolmogorov scaling law. Such a law was previously attributed to classical solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations of motion. It is suggested that turbulence in all fluids is due to quantum fluid mechanical effects. Employing a field theoretical view of the fluid flow velocity, vorticity appears as quantum filamentary strings. This in turn leads directly to the Kolmogorov critical indices for the case of fully developed turbulence.