Mesoscopic behaviour of the neutral Fermi gas 3He confined in quantum wires

S. L. Phillipson, A. M. Guénault (), S. N. Fisher, G. R. Pickett and P. J. Y. Thibault
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S. L. Phillipson: Lancaster University
A. M. Guénault: Lancaster University
S. N. Fisher: Lancaster University
G. R. Pickett: Lancaster University
P. J. Y. Thibault: Lancaster University

Nature, 1998, vol. 395, issue 6702, 578-580

Abstract: Abstract The behaviour of electron gases in restricted geometries provides a means to explore the fundamental quantum-mechanical properties of fermion gases at mesoscopic length scales1. But the existence of Coulomb repulsion between electrons unavoidably complicates the physics. Quantum gases of neutral fermions — such as 3He quasiparticles in a dilute solution of 3He in 4He, cooled to millikelvin temperatures2 — therefore offer a means of probing regimes completely inaccessible to electronic systems. Here we demonstrate the quantum exclusion of a 3He fermion gas from a network of narrow channels, connected to a reservoir of 3He/4He solution. The effect is expected from simple quantum-mechanical arguments, which predict that the 3He atoms cannot enter the channels when their wavelength exceeds √2 times the channel width. By adjusting the temperature of the solution, the energy of the particles and hence their average wavelength can becontrolled. In this way, we observe temperature-dependent changes in the penetration of the 3He quasiparticles into the channels. Our results demonstrate the macroscopic response of an atomic gas to basic quantum-mechanical restrictions at the mesoscopic level.

Date: 1998
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DOI: 10.1038/26927

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