%0 Journal Article
%T New Chiral Phases of Superfluid 3He Stabilized by Anisotropic Silica Aerogel
%A J. Pollanen
%A J. I. A. Li
%A C. A. Collett
%A W. J. Gannon
%A W. P. Halperin
%A J. A. Sauls
%J Physics
%D 2012
%I arXiv
%R 10.1038/nphys2220
%X A rich variety of Fermi systems condense by forming bound pairs, including high temperature [1] and heavy fermion [2] superconductors, Sr2RuO4 [3], cold atomic gases [4], and superfluid 3He [5]. Some of these form exotic quantum states having non-zero orbital angular momentum. We have discovered, in the case of 3He, that anisotropic disorder, engineered from highly porous silica aerogel, stabilizes a chiral superfluid state that otherwise would not exist. Additionally, we find that the chiral axis of this state can be uniquely oriented with the application of a magnetic field perpendicular to the aerogel anisotropy axis. At suffciently low temperature we observe a sharp transition from a uniformly oriented chiral state to a disordered structure consistent with locally ordered domains, contrary to expectations for a superfluid glass phase [6].
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1201.3138v1