Search for Superfluidity in Solid Hydrogen

Abstract

A torsional oscillator study of solid para-hydrogen has been carried out down to 20 mK in search for evidence of superfluidity. This work was inspired by the observation of the supersolid phase in solid He-4. We found evidence of a possible phase transition, marked by an abrupt increase in the resonant period of oscillation and onset of extremely long relaxation times as the temperature was raised above 60 mK. The change in the period for para-hydrogen, in contrast to solid He-4, is not related to superfluidity as it fails a crucial test showing that it is not a consequence of irrotational flow. The long relaxation times observed suggest the effect is related to the motion of residual ortho-hydrogen molecules in the solid.

4 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (1)

• Supersolid Helium at High Pressure

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