Anomalous Damping of a Micro-electro-mechanical Oscillator in Superfluid $^3$He-B

TL;DR

This study investigates the damping behavior of a micro-electro-mechanical oscillator in superfluid $^3$He-B, revealing anomalously high damping likely caused by surface Andreev bound states, with implications for quantum fluid mechanics.

Contribution

It introduces a new understanding of damping mechanisms in superfluid $^3$He-B, highlighting the role of surface Andreev bound states in anomalous damping phenomena.

Findings

Oscillator damping remains high at low temperatures, with a low quality factor of about 80.

Damping shows a temperature-dependent component beyond Boltzmann predictions.

Proposes multiple scattering of surface Andreev bound states as a key damping mechanism.

Abstract

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 ($Q\approx 80$) 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.