Thermal conductivity of liquid 3He in aerogel: a gapless superfluid.
We have measured the thermal conductivity of liquid 3He in 98% aerogel at ultralow temperatures. Aerogel introduces disorder on a scale comparable to the superfluid coherence length. At low pressures the liquid in the aerogel shows normal-state behavior with conductivity linear in temperature. At pressures above approximately 6 bars the onset of superfluidity suppresses the conductivity and the thermal conductivity again tends towards linear behavior in the very low temperature limit, providing strong evidence that here the liquid 3He in the aerogel is behaving as a gapless superfluid.
Fisher
S N
SN
Department of Physics, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YB United Kingdom.
Guénault
A M
AM
Mulders
N
N
Pickett
G R
GR