Nucleation at quantized vortices and the heterogeneous phase separation in supersaturated superfluid 3He-4He liquid mixtures

TL;DR

This paper investigates how quantized vortices in supersaturated superfluid 3He-4He mixtures act as nucleation sites for phase separation, analyzing the growth dynamics and temperature dependence of quantum and classical nucleation mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of vortex core filled with the c-phase as a nucleation site and explores the temperature-dependent transition between classical and quantum nucleation.

Findings

Vortex cores can serve as nucleation sites for phase separation.

The nucleation rate varies with temperature, showing a crossover from classical to quantum mechanisms.

The study provides a quantitative description of the growth dynamics of the c-phase in vortex cores.

Abstract

Supersaturated superfluid 3He-4He liquid mixture, separating into the 3He-concentrated c-phase and 3He-diluted d-phase, represents a unique possibility for studying macroscopic quantum nucleation and quantum phase-separation kinetics in binary mixtures at low temperatures down to absolute zero. One of possible heterogeneous mechanisms for the phase separation of supersaturated d-phase is associated with superfluidity of this phase and with a possible existence of quantized vortices playing a role of nucleation sites for the c-phase of liquid mixture. We analyze the growth dynamics of vortex core filled with the c-phase and determine the temperature behavior of c-phase nucleation rate and the crossover temperature between the classical and quantum nucleation mechanisms.