Spin waves in superfluid 3He.

McClintock, Peter V. E. (1977) Spin waves in superfluid 3He. Nature, 266 (5604). pp. 680-681. ISSN 0028-0836

Abstract

One of the most intriguing features of the recently discovered superfluid phases of liquid 3He is that in sharp contrast to 4He, the only other superfluid known in nature, they have magnetic properties. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that efforts to understand superfluid 3He have been influenced by making comparisons with more conventional types of magnetic material, attempting to explore both the similarities and the fundamental differences in their properties. One characteristic feature of ordered magnetic solids is that they may support so-called spin waves, a form of collective excitation among the magnetic elements. The possible existence of spin waves in 3He has consequently been a subject of much discussion during the four years which have elapsed since the superfluid phases were discovered by D.D. Osheroff, then working at Cornell University. It is of particular interest, therefore, that Osheroff and his co-workers at Bell Laboratories have now reported (Phys. Rev. Left. 38, 134; 1977) the first experimental observation of spin waves in the B phase of superfluid 3He.