Ahlstrom, Sean and Bradley, Ian and Fisher, Shaun and Guénault, Tony and Guise, Edward Ashley and Haley, Richard and Holt, Stephen and Kolosov, Oleg and McClintock, Peter V. E. and Pickett, George and Poole, Malcolm and Schanen, Roch and Tsepelin, Viktor and Woods, Andrew (2014) A quasiparticle detector for imaging quantum turbulence in superfluid 3He-B. Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 175 (5-6). pp. 725-738. ISSN 0022-2291
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Abstract
We describe the development of a two-dimensional quasiparticle detector for use in visualising quantum turbulence in superfluid 3He-B at ultra-low temperatures. The detector consists of a 5×5 matrix of pixels, each a 1mm diameter hole in a copper block containing aminiature quartz tuning fork. The damping on each fork provides a measure of the local quasiparticle flux. The detector is illuminated by a beam of ballistic quasiparticles generated from a nearby black-body radiator. A comparison of the damping on the different forks provides a measure of the cross-sectional profile of the beam. Further, we generate a tangle of vortices (quantum turbulence) in the path of the beam using a vibrating wire resonator. The vortices cast a shadow onto the face of the detector due to the Andreev reflection of quasiparticles in the beam. This allows us to image the vortices and to investigate their dynamics. Here we give details of the design and construction of the detector and show some preliminary results for one row of pixels which demonstrates its successful application tomeasuring quasiparticle beams and quantum turbulence.