Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Physics World

Superfluid helium as a vacuum

David M. Ceperley

Published Jun 1, 1998• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

What is the minimum number of atoms needed for superfluidity? According to the results of a remarkable molecular spectroscopy experiment, there is definite proof that a system of only 60 atoms can be superfluid. Slava Grebencv and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Fluid Dynamics in Göttingen, Germany, found that small molecules dissolved in droplets of liquid helium can rotate freely, just like they do in a vacuum (S Grebencv, J P Tocnnies and A Vilesov 1998 Science 279 2083). The molecules rotate freely because the surrounding helium is a "superfluid" – a liquid without viscosity. In effect, the liquid helium acts as a vacuum.

DOI
10.1088/2058-7058/11/6/19

Related papers

Helium clusters and droplets: microscopic superfluidity and other quantum effects†

J. P. Toennies

Many microscopic properties of the only natural superfluid element helium have become available within the last 18 years through a number of novel experiments. The diffraction of matter-waves of small helium clusters has established the unusually large bond distance (5.2 nm) and extremely weak binding energy (10−7 eV) of the dimer and other exotic properties of small helium clusters. The high-resolution spectroscopy of closed-shell chromophore molecules attached to small clusters or embedded inside large superfluid droplets have revealed that as a result of superfluidity, molecules rotate virtually without friction and that only a handful of He atoms are required for microscopic superfluidity. The frictionless translational motion of atoms and molecules inside the droplets has also been observed. These and a number of other experiments demonstrate that helium droplets are the most gentle and coldest of all cryomatrices with enormous potential for a wide range of future applications.

Molecular Physics•Jun 14, 2013•48 citations

Superfluidity Within a Small Helium-4 Cluster: The Microscopic Andronikashvili Experiment

Slava Grebenev, Jan Peter Toennies, Andrei F. Vilesov

The infrared spectrum of single oxygen carbon sulfide (OCS) molecules was measured inside large superfluid pure helium-4 droplets and nonsuperfluid pure helium-3 droplets, both consisting of about 10(4) atoms. In the helium-4 droplets, sharp rotational lines were observed, whereas in helium-3 only a broad peak was found. This difference is interpreted as evidence that the narrow rotational lines, which imply free rotations, are a microscopic manifestation of superfluidity. Upon addition of 60 helium-4 atoms to the pure helium-3 droplets, the same sharp rotational lines were found; it appears that 60 is the minimum number needed for superfluidity.

Science•Mar 27, 1998•620 citations

Rotational Superfluidity in Small Helium Droplets

David Mateo, Frisly Gonzalez, Jussi Eloranta

The first minimum appearing in molecular rotational constants as a function of helium droplet size has been previously associated with the onset of superfluidity in these finite systems. We investigate this relationship by bosonic density functional theory calculations of classical molecular rotors (OCS, N2O, CO, and HCN) interacting with the surrounding helium. The calculated rotational constants are in fair agreement with the existing experimental data, demonstrating the applicability of the theoretical model. Inspection of the spatial evolution of the global phase and density shows the increase in the rotational constant after the first minimum correlates with continuous coverage of the molecule by helium and the appearance of angular phase coherence rather than completion of the first solvent shell. We assign the observed phenomenon to quantum phase transition between a localized state and one-dimensional superfluid, which represents the onset of rotational superfluidity in small helium droplets.

The Journal of Physical Chemistry A•Aug 6, 2014•24 citations

Superfluidity

Ivo Sachs, Siddhartha Sen, James Sexton

The goal of this chapter will be to briefly describe the remarkable properties of helium at low temperatures. After stating some of these properties we will see how they can be understood in terms of the phenomenon of Bose–Einstein condensation described in Chapter 7. We will give the main argument in two different formulations, once using the quasi-particle method of Bogoliubov, and then using a Green function approach. We start with some experimental facts. Helium is a remarkable element. It was predicted to exist from observations of the Sun before it was found on Earth. It is the only element which remains a liquid at zero temperature and atmospheric pressure. Experimentally the phase diagram of 4 He is shown in Figure 10.1. Helium I is a normal fluid and has a normal gas-liquid critical point. Helium II is a mixture of a normal fluid and a superfluid. The superfluid is characterized by the vanishing of its viscosity. Helium I and helium II are separated by a line known as the λ -transition line. At T λ = 2.18 K, P λ = 2.29 Pa, helium I, helium II, and helium gas coexist. The specific heat of liquid helium along the vapor transition line forms a logarithmic discontinuity shown in Figure 10.2. The form of this diagram resembles the Greek letter λ and is the reason for calling the transition a λ -transition. The lack of viscosity of helium II leads to some remarkable experimental consequences, one of which we briefly describe. Let two containers A and B be linked by a thin capillary through which only a fluid with zero (or very low) viscosity can pass freely.

Cambridge University Press eBooks•May 11, 2006•0 citations

X-raying superfluid helium droplets

Jelena Stajic

Helium Superfluidity When physicists rotate the superfluid 4He, it develops a regular array of tiny whirlpools, called vortices. The same phenomenon should occur in helium droplets half a micrometer in size, but studying individual droplets is tricky. Gomez et al. used x-ray diffraction to deduce the shape of individual rotating droplets and image the resulting vortex patterns, which confirmed the superfluidity of the droplets. They found that superfluid droplets can host a surprising number of vortices and can rotate faster than normal droplets without disintegrating. Science , this issue p. [906][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1252395

Science•Aug 21, 2014•0 citations

Liquid helium and Bose-gas

A. S. Alexandrov, Nevill Mott

This book is about a certain class of superfluids, namely the high temperature superconductors. Perhaps the simplest of the superfluids is liquid He4. Since the very early days of quantum mechanics it has been known that the helium atom He4 is a boson; it is built of an even number of particles (two electrons, two neutrons and two protons), so that a wave function ^(ri,F2) must be symmetrical in FI — r? where FI, r-z are the electron's coordinates. This has the result that half the rotational states of the molecule H62 are absent and that the scattering of alpha particles by helium for low energies deviates from the Rutherford scattering law. It also has the remarkable result that this is not so for the light isotope He3, which shows that the number of neutrons in the nucleus affects properties depending otherwise only on the electrons and nuclear charge.

CRC Press eBooks•Nov 24, 1994•0 citations
What is the minimum number of atoms needed for superfluidity? According to the results of a remarkable molecular spectroscopy experiment, there is definite proof that a system of only 60 atoms can be superfluid. Slava Grebencv and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Fluid Dynamics in Göttingen, Germany, found that small molecules dissolved in droplets of liquid helium can rotate freely, just like they do in a vacuum (S Grebencv, J P Tocnnies and A Vilesov 1998 Science 279 2083). The molecules rotate freely because the surrounding helium is a "superfluid" – a liquid without viscosity. In effect, the liquid helium acts as a vacuum.
Many microscopic properties of the only natural superfluid element helium have become available within the last 18 years through a number of novel experiments. The diffraction of matter-waves of small helium clusters has established the unusually large bond distance (5.2 nm) and extremely weak binding energy (10−7 eV) of the dimer and other exotic properties of small helium clusters. The high-resolution spectroscopy of closed-shell chromophore molecules attached to small clusters or embedded inside large superfluid droplets have revealed that as a result of superfluidity, molecules rotate virtually without friction and that only a handful of He atoms are required for microscopic superfluidity. The frictionless translational motion of atoms and molecules inside the droplets has also been observed. These and a number of other experiments demonstrate that helium droplets are the most gentle and coldest of all cryomatrices with enormous potential for a wide range of future applications.
The infrared spectrum of single oxygen carbon sulfide (OCS) molecules was measured inside large superfluid pure helium-4 droplets and nonsuperfluid pure helium-3 droplets, both consisting of about 10(4) atoms. In the helium-4 droplets, sharp rotational lines were observed, whereas in helium-3 only a broad peak was found. This difference is interpreted as evidence that the narrow rotational lines, which imply free rotations, are a microscopic manifestation of superfluidity. Upon addition of 60 helium-4 atoms to the pure helium-3 droplets, the same sharp rotational lines were found; it appears that 60 is the minimum number needed for superfluidity.
The first minimum appearing in molecular rotational constants as a function of helium droplet size has been previously associated with the onset of superfluidity in these finite systems. We investigate this relationship by bosonic density functional theory calculations of classical molecular rotors (OCS, N2O, CO, and HCN) interacting with the surrounding helium. The calculated rotational constants are in fair agreement with the existing experimental data, demonstrating the applicability of the theoretical model. Inspection of the spatial evolution of the global phase and density shows the increase in the rotational constant after the first minimum correlates with continuous coverage of the molecule by helium and the appearance of angular phase coherence rather than completion of the first solvent shell. We assign the observed phenomenon to quantum phase transition between a localized state and one-dimensional superfluid, which represents the onset of rotational superfluidity in small helium droplets.
The goal of this chapter will be to briefly describe the remarkable properties of helium at low temperatures. After stating some of these properties we will see how they can be understood in terms of the phenomenon of Bose–Einstein condensation described in Chapter 7. We will give the main argument in two different formulations, once using the quasi-particle method of Bogoliubov, and then using a Green function approach. We start with some experimental facts. Helium is a remarkable element. It was predicted to exist from observations of the Sun before it was found on Earth. It is the only element which remains a liquid at zero temperature and atmospheric pressure. Experimentally the phase diagram of 4 He is shown in Figure 10.1. Helium I is a normal fluid and has a normal gas-liquid critical point. Helium II is a mixture of a normal fluid and a superfluid. The superfluid is characterized by the vanishing of its viscosity. Helium I and helium II are separated by a line known as the λ -transition line. At T λ = 2.18 K, P λ = 2.29 Pa, helium I, helium II, and helium gas coexist. The specific heat of liquid helium along the vapor transition line forms a logarithmic discontinuity shown in Figure 10.2. The form of this diagram resembles the Greek letter λ and is the reason for calling the transition a λ -transition. The lack of viscosity of helium II leads to some remarkable experimental consequences, one of which we briefly describe. Let two containers A and B be linked by a thin capillary through which only a fluid with zero (or very low) viscosity can pass freely.
Helium Superfluidity When physicists rotate the superfluid 4He, it develops a regular array of tiny whirlpools, called vortices. The same phenomenon should occur in helium droplets half a micrometer in size, but studying individual droplets is tricky. Gomez et al. used x-ray diffraction to deduce the shape of individual rotating droplets and image the resulting vortex patterns, which confirmed the superfluidity of the droplets. They found that superfluid droplets can host a surprising number of vortices and can rotate faster than normal droplets without disintegrating. Science , this issue p. [906][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1252395
This book is about a certain class of superfluids, namely the high temperature superconductors. Perhaps the simplest of the superfluids is liquid He4. Since the very early days of quantum mechanics it has been known that the helium atom He4 is a boson; it is built of an even number of particles (two electrons, two neutrons and two protons), so that a wave function ^(ri,F2) must be symmetrical in FI — r? where FI, r-z are the electron's coordinates. This has the result that half the rotational states of the molecule H62 are absent and that the scattering of alpha particles by helium for low energies deviates from the Rutherford scattering law. It also has the remarkable result that this is not so for the light isotope He3, which shows that the number of neutrons in the nucleus affects properties depending otherwise only on the electrons and nuclear charge.