Drag on Cylinders Moving in Superfluid \(^3\)He-B as the Dimension Spans the Coherence Length

Abstract

Vibrating probes when immersed in a fluid can provide powerful tools for characterising the surrounding medium. In superfluid \(^3\)He-B, a condensate of Cooper pairs, the dissipation arising from the scattering of quasiparticle excitations from a mechanical oscillator provides the basis of extremely sensitive thermometry and bolometry at sub-millikelvin temperatures. The unique properties of the Andreev reflection process in this condensate also assist by providing a significantly enhanced dissipation. While existing models for such damping on an oscillating cylinder have been verified experimentally, they are valid only for flows with scales much greater than the coherence length of \(^3\)He, which is of the order of a hundred nanometres. With our increasing proficiency in fabricating nanosized oscillators, which can be readily used in this superfluid, there is a pressing need for the development of new models that account for the modification of the flow around these smaller oscillators. Here we report preliminary results on measurements of the damping in superfluid \(^3\)He-B of a range of cylindrical nanosized oscillators with radii comparable to the coherence length and outline a model for calculating the associated drag.