Fabrication of a silicon-based superfluid oscillator

Creators: Schwab, Keith; Steinhauer, J.; Davis, J. C.; Packard, Richard E.

Abstract

We have constructed an integrated superfluid oscillator using various silicon processing techniques, including micromachining and electron beam lithography. This device has the advantage of a very small internal volume (0.72 mm^3). This makes it insensitive to spurious external acoustic noise which has limited the performance of larger experiments. We have tested the performance of this device in two configurations, one with a single micro-aperture and another with an additional fine tube. Both configurations demonstrate macroscopic quantum phenomena in superfluid ^4He at low temperatures (0.25 K < T <2.2 K) and have been used to study these effects in detail.

Additional Information

© 1996 IEEE. Manuscript received August 22, 1995; revised May 16, 1996. Subject Editor, S. D. Senturia. This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation. The authors would like to acknowledge the many helpful discussions with Y. Muhkarsky, S. Backhaus, and A. Rimberg. They would also like to acknowledge the technical assistance from the Berkeley Sensors and Actuators Group and the staff of the Berkeley Microlab, especially D. Hebert and D. Hebert.

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