Quantum physics on tap
Nano-sized faucet offers experimental support for longstanding quantum theory
The zone where physics changes
Insights from the research could someday contribute to novel technologies, such as nano-sensors with applications in GPS systems. But for now, Gervais says, the results are significant simply because "we're pushing the limit of understanding things on the nanoscale. We're approaching the grey zone where all physics changes."
Prof. Adrian Del Maestro from the University of Vermont has been employing high-performance computer simulations to understand just how small the faucet has to be before this new physics emerges. "The ability to study a quantum liquid at such diminutive length scales in the laboratory is extremely exciting as it allows us to extend our fundamental understanding of how atoms cooperate to form the superfluid state of matter," he says. "The superfluid slowdown we observe signals that this cooperation is starting to break down as the width of the pipe narrows to the nanoscale" and edges closer to the exotic one-dimensional limit envisioned in the Tomonaga-Luttinger theory.
Building what is probably the world's smallest faucet has been no simple task. Gervais hatched the idea during a five-minute conversation over coffee with a world-leading theoretical physicist. That was eight years ago. But getting the nano-plumbing to work took "at least 100 trials -- maybe 200," says Gervais, who is a fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
A beam of electrons as drill bit
Using a beam of electrons as a kind of drill bit, the team made holes as small as seven nanometers wide in a piece of silicon nitride, a tough material used in applications such as automotive diesel engines and high-performance ball bearings. By cooling the apparatus to very low temperatures, placing superfluid helium on one side of the pore and applying a vacuum to the other, the researchers were able to observe the flow of the superfluid through the channel. Varying the size of the channel, they found that the maximum speed of the flow slowed as the radius of the pore decreased.
The experiments take advantage of a unique characteristic of superfluids. Unlike ordinary liquids - water or maple syrup, for example -- superfluids can flow without any viscosity. As a result, they can course through extremely narrow channels; and once in motion, they don't need any pressure to keep going. Helium is the only element in nature known to become a superfluid; it does so when cooled to an extremely low temperature.
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