Anisotropic phases of superfluid 3He in compressed aerogel

TL;DR

This study investigates how anisotropic compression of silica aerogel influences the superfluid phases of 3He, revealing that strain distorts the B-phase into a more stable anisotropic state compared to the A-phase.

Contribution

It demonstrates how controlled anisotropic strain in aerogel alters the stability and structure of superfluid 3He phases, providing new insights into superfluid anisotropy.

Findings

B-phase is distorted by negative strain, forming a more stable anisotropic superfluid state.

Phase diagrams of 3He in compressed aerogel show strain-dependent stability.

Anisotropic superfluid states are stabilized by aerogel compression.

Abstract

It has been shown that the relative stabilities of various superfluid states of 3He can be influenced by anisotropy in a silica aerogel framework. We prepared a suite of aerogel samples compressed up to 30% for which we performed pulsed NMR on 3He imbibed within the aerogel. We identified A and B-phases and determined their magnetic field-temperature phase diagrams as a function of strain. From these results we infer that the B-phase is distorted by negative strain forming an anisotropic superfluid state more stable than the A-phase.