Related papers: Interplay of Rotational, Relaxational, and Shear D…
Superfluidity, liquid flow without friction, is familiar in helium. The first evidence for "supersolidity", its analogue in quantum solids, came from recent torsional oscillator (TO) measurements involving 4-He. At temperatures below 200…
The torsional oscillator is the chief instrument for investigating supersolidity in solid 4He. These oscillators can be sensitive to the elastic properties of the solid helium, which show anomalies over the same range of temperature in…
Torsional oscillator experiments show evidence of mass decoupling in solid 4He. This decoupling is amplitude dependent, suggesting a critical velocity for supersolidity. We observe similar behavior in the elastic shear modulus. By measuring…
A decrease in the rotational period observed in torsional oscillator measurements was recently taken as a possible indication of a supersolid state of helium. We reexamine this interpretation and note that the decrease in the rotation…
The rigid double-torus torsional oscillator (TO) is constructed to reduce any elastic effects in-herent to complicate TO structures, allowing explicit probing for a genuine supersolid signature. We investigated the frequency- and…
The shear modulus of solid 4He below 200 mK exhibits an unusual increase, the characteristics of which show remarkable similarities to those of the period reduction in torsional oscillator experiments. We systematically studied the drive…
Although solid helium-4 (4He) may be a supersolid it also exhibits many phenomena unexpected in that context. We studied relaxation dynamics in the resonance frequency f(T) and dissipation D(T) of a torsional oscillator containing solid…
Torsional oscillator experiments on solid 4He show frequency changes which suggest mass decoupling, but the onset is broad and is accompanied by a dissipation peak. We have measured the elastic shear modulus over a broad frequency range,…
We describe the first observations on the time-dependent dissipation when the drive level of a torsional oscillator containing solid He-4 is abruptly changed. The relaxation of dissipation in solid He-4 shows rich dynamical behavior…
We have carried out torsional oscillator experiments on solid $^4$He at temperatures between 1.3K and 1.9K. We discovered phenomena similar to those observed at temperatures below 0.2K, which currently are under debate regarding their…
The irrotational nature of superfluid helium was discovered through its decoupling from the container under rotation. Similarly, the resonant period drop of a torsional oscillator (TO) containing solid helium was first interpreted as the…
The resonant period drop observed at low temperatures in torsional oscillators containing solid helium had been interpreted as a signature of supersolid. However, it was found that the shear modulus increase found in solid helium at the…
We calculated the glassy response of solid He-4 to torsional oscillations assuming a phenomenological glass model. Making only a few assumptions about the distribution of glassy relaxation times in a small subsystem of otherwise rigid solid…
Torsional oscillator experiments involving solid $^{4}$He confined in the nanoscale pores of Vycor glass showed anomalous frequency changes at temperatures below 200 mK. These were initially attributed to decoupling of some of the helium's…
In these torsional oscillator experiments the samples of solid $^4$He were characterized by measuring their thermal conducitvity. Polycrystalline samples of helium of either high isotopic purity or natural concentration of $^3$He were grown…
We investigate the origin of a resonant period drop of a torsional oscillator (TO) containing solid ${}^{4}$He by inspecting its relation to a change in elastic modulus. To understand this relationship directly, we measure both phenomena…
A torsional oscillator study of solid para-hydrogen has been carried out down to 20 mK in search for evidence of superfluidity. This work was inspired by the observation of the supersolid phase in solid He-4. We found evidence of a possible…
Recent experiments showed that the shear modulus of solid 4He stiffens in the same temperature range (below 200 mK) where mass decoupling and supersolidity have been inferred from torsional oscillator measurements. The two phenomena are…
Over the last five years several experimental groups have reported anomalies in the temperature dependence of the period and amplitude of a torsional oscillator containing solid $^4$He. We model these experiments by assuming that $^4$He is…
We find that a temperature differential can drive superfluid oscillations in 4He. The oscillations are excited by a heater which causes a time dependent temperature differential across an array of 70nm apertures. By measuring the…