Pinning of texture and vortices of the rotating B-like phase of superfluid 3He confined in a 98% aerogel

Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Feb 25;94(7):075301. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.075301. Epub 2005 Feb 22.

Abstract

We have investigated pinning effects on texture and vortices of the B-like phase of superfluid (3)He in a rotating aerogel up to +/-2pi rad/s by cw-NMR. We observed deformation of the NMR spectra in rotation, due to counterflow between the superflow and the normal flow. The average intensity of the counterflow was calculated from the change of NMR spectra. The rotation dependence of the counterflow intensity is similar to the magnetization curve of hard type II superconductors or the counterflow response of (4)He-II in packed powders. This counterflow behavior is in qualitative agreement with a model that vortices are pinned unless the counterflow exceeds a critical velocity v(c). The temperature independence of v(c) suggests that v(c) is associated with the expansion of primordial vortices.