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Originally published in Science Express on 27 July 2006
Science 25 August 2006:
Vol. 313. no. 5790, pp. 1098 - 1100
DOI: 10.1126/science.1130879
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Reports

Superfluidity of Grain Boundaries and Supersolid Behavior

S. Sasaki,1* R. Ishiguro,1{dagger} F. Caupin,1 H. J. Maris,1,2 S. Balibar1*

When two communicating vessels are filled to a different height with liquid, the two levels equilibrate because the liquid can flow. We have looked for such equilibration with solid 4He. For crystals with no grain boundaries, we see no flow of mass, whereas for crystals containing several grain boundaries, we detect a mass flow. Our results suggest that the transport of mass is due to the superfluidity of grain boundaries.

1 Laboratoire de Physique Statistique de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure, Associé aux Universités Paris 6 et Paris 7 et au CNRS, 24 Rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.
2 Department of Physics, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.

{dagger} Present address: Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, Osaka 558–8585, Japan.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ssasaki{at}lps.ens.fr (S.S.); balibar{at}lps.ens.fr (S.B.)

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Evidence for a Superglass State in Solid 4He.
B. Hunt, E. Pratt, V. Gadagkar, M. Yamashita, A. V. Balatsky, and J. C. Davis (2009)
Science 324, 632-636
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Supersolidity.
M. H. W. Chan (2008)
Science 319, 1207-1209
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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