Measurements of circulation in superfluid 3He-B using a vibrating wire

Abstract

We have measured fluid circulation in superfluid 3He-B. The apparatus consists of a straight vibrating wire which is mounted in a 3He cell on a rotating millikelvin cryostat operating at temperatures in the ballistic quasiparticle regime. Circulation around the wire is found to be stable only when it takes on values -h/2m3, 0, +h/2m3 where h is Planck's constant and m3 is the mass of the 3He atom. Show more