Discovery of a metastable π-state in a superfluid 3He weak link

S. Backhaus, S. Pereverzev, R. W. Simmonds, A. Loshak, J. C. Davis () and R. E. Packard
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S. Backhaus: University of California
S. Pereverzev: University of California
R. W. Simmonds: University of California
A. Loshak: University of California
J. C. Davis: University of California
R. E. Packard: University of California

Nature, 1998, vol. 392, issue 6677, 687-690

Abstract: Abstract Under certain circumstances1,2, a superconducting Josephson junction can maintain a quantum phase difference of π between the two samples that are weakly connected to form the junction. Such systems are called ‘π-junctions’ and have formed the basis of several experiments designed to investigate the much-debated symmetry of the order parameter of high-temperature superconductors3,4,5,6,7,8. More recently, the possibility that similar phenomena might occur in another macroscopic quantum system — a pair of weakly coupled Bose–Einstein condensates — has also been suggested9. Here we report the discovery of a metastable superfluid state, in which a quantum phase difference of π is maintained across a weak link separating two reservoirs of superfluid 3He. The existence of this state, which is the superfluid analogue ofa superconducting π-junction, is likely to reflect the underlying ‘p-wave’ symmetry of the order parameter of superfluid 3He, but a precise microscopic explanation is at present unknown.

Date: 1998
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DOI: 10.1038/33629

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