Volume 58A, number

PHYSICS LETTERS

23 August 1976

A LAW OF CORRESPONDING STATES FOR THE SUPERFLUID FRACTION OF HE II*

J. MAYNARD, J. HEISERMAN ANd I. RUDNICK
Department of Physics, University

of California, Los Angeles, Calif. 90024,

USA

Received 14 June 1976 The superfluid fraction n5/n in He II has been accurately measured at more than 400 points tfuoughout the P-Z plane above 1.2 K and is found to be a universal function of the reduced temperature f l\r(P).

Recently we have used acoustic resonators to measure simultaneously the velocities of first, second, and fourth sound (Cl, Cz, and C4, respectively) to a typical precision of 0.2% at more than 400 P-T points in the He II phase [1]. Data were taken from 1.2 K to the lambda line in 0.05 K intervals and from saturated vapor pressure (SVP) to 25 bar in I bar intervals. When supplemented with a small amount of published data at SVP for normalization purposes, the sound velocities were used to completely determine the thermodynamics of He II to a typical precision of 0.3% [2]. The purpose of this letter is to report one of the results which is that the superfluid fraction pr/p obeys a law of Corresponding States [3-6] (LCS) to within remarkably small limits. It is found that prlp is a universal function of the reduced temperature t = TIT^(P) to within typically t0.002. Here 7'^(P) is the lambda transition temperature determined along the isobar P. The variation of the unscaled prlp exceeds the limits of the scaled OrlO bV a factor of - 100. Fig. 1 shows lhe prlp data points plotted as a function of r. The data were determined directly from the sound velocity measurements (pr/p * QlC2r) except for a small term which depended on the normalization data. A rough observance of the LCS by prlp would not be surprising. However the precision of the present data represent a severe test of the LCS and the results suggest that the law may be quite significant in systems having critical lines. The universal behavior of prlp and possibly the order parameter in He II at points far from the lambda line is interesting as well as convenient. The LCS was first formulated by Van der Waals;

,9

= 2
o @

0.6

o.7

0.8

0.9

* Work supported in part by the National

Science Foundation Grant No. DMR 75000761-000 and the Office of Naval Research, Contract No. N00014-7 5<4246.

Reduced lemperolure

T/T^ (P)

Fig. 1. The superfluid fractionp5/p versus reduced temperature Tlir21(P). Data points represent 15-20 temperatures along
each

of 25 isobars from

1 bar

to 25 bar.
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Volume 58A, number

PHYSICS LETTERS

23 August 1975

he observed that when his equation of state was written

in terms of reduced variables (P,V,T divided by their respective values at the critical point) the parameters characteristic of the particular substance were eliminated and a universal equation of state resulted. Kamerlingh Onnes [5] showed that the LCS could be obtained by scaling with molecular rather than critical parameters. The validity of the LCS was not restricted to the neighborhood of the critical point. The LCS is usually considered in regard to the uni versal behavior among chemically different substances when the thermodynamic variables are scaled with their respective critical point values [6]. However it is also applicable to single substances with critical lines. The LCS should obtain as the critical line is approached along paths consisting of sequences of microscopically corresponding states. These paths would be specified as lines in the P-7 plane along which some parameter conjugate to the order parameter is held constant. In He II, the nearly linear relationship between T^and P suggests that P may be simply related to the conjugate parameter. In this case the order parameter along different isobars should be a universal function of ,. This of the behavior of a superconductor under pressure. Here the reduced order parameter L,"f kT"is a universal function of TlT. [..g. 7] when the critical
is an analog

temperature 7. is varied by subjecting the superconductor to high pressures. We know of only one instance where this type of behavior has been systematically observed in a superconductor; namely the measurements on Cd by Brandt and Ginzburg [8] . The precision of their measurements was at best 3% and hence the results could not show any greater universality than already seen among chemically different substances.

References

[1]

J. Heiserman, J.P. Hulin, J. Maynard and I. Rudnick, sub-

mitted for publication. J. Maynard, submitted for publication. [3] J.D. Van der Waals, Verh. Kon. Akad. Wetensch., Amsterdam (1880). [4] J.M.K. Levelt Sengers, Physica 73 (L974) 73; and references

l2l

[5]
[6]

[7] [8]

cited therein. H. Kamerlingh Onnes, Verh. Kon. Akad. Wetensch., Amsterdam 21 (1881); Comm. Leiden 23 (1886). J. De Boer, Physica 14 (1948) 139; J. De Boer and R.J. Lunbeck, Physica 14 (1948) 510, 520; J. De Boer and B.S. Blaisse, Physica 14 (1948) 149. G. Rickayzen, Superconductivity, ed. R.D. Parks (Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1969) Chap.2,p.75. N.B. Brandt and N.I. Ginzburg, Sov. Phys. JETP 17 (1963)

1262.

188