David Lee, Douglas Osheroff, Superfluidity, and Helium 3

David M. Lee and Douglas D. Osheroff received the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics for ‘their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3'. "In 1976, Lee shared with Richardson and Osheroff their earliest recognition for studies of superfluidity, the Simon Memorial Prize of the British Physical Society. The Buckley Prize of the American Physical Society followed for the trio in 1981. ...

From 1966-67, Lee was a visiting scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory ... ."¹ His research at Cornell University includes " Low Temperature Physics: Normal and superfluid ³He, studies of the orientation of solid helium by optical birefringence, solid ³He and ⁴He, lambda phase diagram of ³He - ⁴He mixtures, quasiparticle tunneling in superconductors, magnetic resonance and ultrasound techniques, cooling by adiabatic demagnetization and the Pomeranchuk technique, spin waves in spin polarized hydrogen gas, high concentrations of hydrogen and nitrogen atons via matrix isolation by impurity-helium solids, magnetism, electron spin resonance."²

Osheroff's research efforts at Stanford University "center around studies of quantum fluids and solids and glasses at ultra-low temperatures. Current work in quantum fluids and solids includes studies of transport properties in nuclear magnetically ordered solid ³He, studies of the B phase nucleation in superfluid ³He, and experimental searches for new magnetically ordered two dimensional phases of both solid and liquid ³He on graphite surfaces. The work involving glasses is intended to elucidate the nature of two level systems in amorphous materials at ultra-low temperatures, and to develop new low heat capacity/high resolution thermometers for use in the 1 to 10 mK temperature range."³

Resources with Additional Information

Additional information about David M. Lee, Douglas D. Osheroff, and their research is available in full-text and on the Web.

Full-text:

Optical Birefringence and Crystal Growth of Hexagonal-Close-Packed He⁴ from Superfluid Helium; O. W. Heybey and D. M. Lee; Physical Review Letters, Vol. 19, Issue 3: 106-108; July 17, 1967

Phase Separation and the Superfluid Transition in Liquid He³-He⁴ Mixtures; E. H. Graf, D. M. Lee, and J. D. Reppy; Physical Review Letters, Vol. 19, Issue 8: 417-419; August 21, 1967

Evidence for a New Phase of Solid He³; D. D. Osheroff, R. C. Richardson, and D. M. Lee; Physical Review Letters, Vol. 28, Issue 14: 885-888, April 3, 1972

New Magnetic Phenomena in Liquid He³ below 3 mK; D. D. Osheroff, W. J. Gully, R. C. Richardson, and D. M. Lee; Physical Review Letters, Vol. 29, Issue 14: 920-923; October 2, 1972

Superfluidity in ³He: Discovery and Understanding; D. D. Osheroff; Review of Modern Physics, Vol. 69, Issue 3: 667-682; July 1997

Observation of a Superfluid He-3 A- B Phase Transition in Silica Aerogel; B. I. Barker, Y. Lee, L. Polukhina, D. D. Osheroff, L. W. Hrubesh, and J. F. Poco; Physical Review Letters, Vol. 85, Issue 10: 2148-2151 ; September 4, 2000

Interfacial Pinning in the Superfluid ³He A-B Transition in Aerogel; J. E. Baumgardner, Y. Lee, D. D. Osheroff, L. W. Hrubesh, and J. F. Poco; Physical Review Letters, Vol. 93, Issue 5: 055301 [4 pages]; July 30, 2004

Phase Diagram of Superfluid ³He in 99.3% Porosity Aerogel; J. E. Baumgardner and D. D. Osheroff; Physical Review Letters, Vol. 93, Issue 15: 155301 [4 pages]; October 8, 2004