Dynamics of pinned quantized vortices in superfluid $^4$He in a microelectromechanical oscillator

TL;DR

This paper numerically investigates vortex dynamics and pinning effects in superfluid helium-4 confined in a MEMS oscillator, providing insights into damping mechanisms and vortex behavior at near-zero temperatures.

Contribution

It introduces models of vortex pinning in superfluid helium-4 and analyzes their impact on vortex dynamics and damping in a MEMS oscillator setup.

Findings

Kelvin waves are excited in pinned vortices at matching frequencies.

Pinning suppresses vortex tangle formation and turbulence.

Damping force is derived from vortex tension evaluations.

Abstract

We numerically studied the vortex dynamics at zero temperature in superfluid $^4$He confined between two parallel rough solid boundaries, one of which oscillates in a shear mode. This study was motivated by the experimental work by Barquist $et$ $al.$ which employed a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) oscillator operating in superfluid $^4$He at a near-zero temperature. Their experiments suggest that the motion of the MEMS oscillator is damped by quantized vortices. In our study, we postulated that this damping effect was closely associated with vortex pinning phenomena and developed pinning models. Our primary objective is to understand the vortex dynamics in the presence of pinning and to provide insight into the experimental observations regarding the damping mechanism. We confirmed that Kelvin waves were excited in the pinned vortices when the oscillation frequency of the solid boundary matched with the mode frequency of the Kelvin wave. Additionally, we examined the formation and evolution of vortex tangles between the boundaries. The vortex tangle was suppressed in the presence of pinning, while the absence of pinning allowed to form well developed vortex tangle resulting in turbulence. Finally, by evaluating the tension of pinned vortices we extracted the damping force acting on the solid boundaries.