Studies of the critical velocity of superfluid⁴he in a 2 μm by 2 μm aperture in a thin foil at various frequencies

Abstract

Measurements of the critical velocity behavior of oscillatory superfluid⁴He flow through a 2 μm by 2 μm square aperture in a 0.1 μm thick titanium foil are being made at temperatures between 0.36 K and 2.1 K and at pressures of less than 0.4 bar at various frequencies between 50 Hz and 1000 Hz. The purpose of this work is to study a micron-size aperture for possible frequency-dependent deviations from the critical velocity behavior seen in submicron-size apertures. Preliminary results show a nearly linear decrease of critical velocity with increasing temperature that is similar to the temperature dependences seen in smaller apertures and that is approximately independent of frequency. However, at frequencies above 500 Hz, a region appears at the lowest temperatures in which supercritical behavior is dominated by large energy-loss events requiring a number of half-cycles for completion, a region that extends up to 1.1 K at 970 Hz.