HE3 remains superfluid in low temperature aerogel

17 Jun 2002

When helium-3 was injected into a sample of aerogel, a wispy glass gel with a density not that much greater than air, some theorists expected the gel's filaments to disrupt entirely the pairing of He-3 atoms necessary for superfluidity. This didn't happen. A new surprise is the fact that an applied magnetic field does have an effect on superfluidity in the aerogel; it depresses the superfluid transition temperature furtherResearch on superfluid He-3 in aerogel may have implications for the study of superconductivity since the pairing of He-3 atoms in superfluids is analogous to electron pairing (the BCS mechanism) in some superconductors. Recent results are reported in the recent edition of Science News.