Superfluid 3He Far from Equilibrium
Lead Research Organisation:
Lancaster University
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
This fellowship proposal answers the EPSRC's call to tackle outstanding grand challenges in the areas of physics of systems far from equilibrium and physics of emergent phenomena. My vision is to approach these challenges by studying non-equilibrium phenomena in a well-known system with an established theoretical framework - superfluid 3He.
Coherent condensates (or superfluids) are the simplest "complex" systems that we have, in that the condensate is governed by just one global wave function describing the whole macroscopic ensemble. This simplicity makes them ideal playgrounds for studying and testing ideas that cover a vast range of apparently unrelated physical systems from the subnuclear to the cosmological. Of interest here, superfluids are absolutely ideal for studying systems far from equilibrium and also host an abundance of emergent phenomena. Coherent condensates (or at least those to which we have experimental access) are fragile objects only existing at very low temperatures. Almost uniquely that means that we can study them over the whole range of conditions from the virtually zero-entropy zero-temperature quiescent state all the way through to the regime where we have the complete destruction of the coherence. Producing and studying the simplest forms of states far from equilibrium is essential for creating falsifiable theories and reliable numerical models. By understanding the simplest states we can progress to the understanding of more complex phenomena, adjusting the theoretical models with the firm knowledge that they do work in simpler situations.
That said, in this application I propose several experiments which take our model condensate, superfluid 3He, to the limit. The main interest here is that although perceived wisdom suggests that the destruction of coherence is pretty well understood, in reality that is very far from the truth. It is "common knowledge" that when we move a scatterer through a superfluid, then at some critical velocity the superfluidity should catastrophically break down and return the system to the normal state. Recently, we have shown at Lancaster that this does not happen in superfluid 3He up to velocities well in excess of the accepted Landau value. This was quite unexpected. In the proposed experimental programme I will aim to find the reason for the existence of supercritical supercurrents which flow around the scatterer and also find the domain of their stability. To this end I will utilise a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance to probe the condensate's wave function with a device capable of uniform motion through the condensate - a recently pioneered addition to the arsenal of the superfluid research techniques.
Using for the first time the powerful combination of nuclear magnetic resonance with steady superflow in 3He at ultralow temperatures will also enable us to investigate several emergent phenomena. For example, the superfluid 3He system is an ideal medium for the study of quantum critical phase transitions between different superfluid phases which can be accessed by changing the pressure of the superfluid near the absolute zero of temperature.
Coherent condensates (or superfluids) are the simplest "complex" systems that we have, in that the condensate is governed by just one global wave function describing the whole macroscopic ensemble. This simplicity makes them ideal playgrounds for studying and testing ideas that cover a vast range of apparently unrelated physical systems from the subnuclear to the cosmological. Of interest here, superfluids are absolutely ideal for studying systems far from equilibrium and also host an abundance of emergent phenomena. Coherent condensates (or at least those to which we have experimental access) are fragile objects only existing at very low temperatures. Almost uniquely that means that we can study them over the whole range of conditions from the virtually zero-entropy zero-temperature quiescent state all the way through to the regime where we have the complete destruction of the coherence. Producing and studying the simplest forms of states far from equilibrium is essential for creating falsifiable theories and reliable numerical models. By understanding the simplest states we can progress to the understanding of more complex phenomena, adjusting the theoretical models with the firm knowledge that they do work in simpler situations.
That said, in this application I propose several experiments which take our model condensate, superfluid 3He, to the limit. The main interest here is that although perceived wisdom suggests that the destruction of coherence is pretty well understood, in reality that is very far from the truth. It is "common knowledge" that when we move a scatterer through a superfluid, then at some critical velocity the superfluidity should catastrophically break down and return the system to the normal state. Recently, we have shown at Lancaster that this does not happen in superfluid 3He up to velocities well in excess of the accepted Landau value. This was quite unexpected. In the proposed experimental programme I will aim to find the reason for the existence of supercritical supercurrents which flow around the scatterer and also find the domain of their stability. To this end I will utilise a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance to probe the condensate's wave function with a device capable of uniform motion through the condensate - a recently pioneered addition to the arsenal of the superfluid research techniques.
Using for the first time the powerful combination of nuclear magnetic resonance with steady superflow in 3He at ultralow temperatures will also enable us to investigate several emergent phenomena. For example, the superfluid 3He system is an ideal medium for the study of quantum critical phase transitions between different superfluid phases which can be accessed by changing the pressure of the superfluid near the absolute zero of temperature.
Planned Impact
The proposed research is of fundamental kind, driven by the desire to improve knowledge and understanding of nature under extreme conditions and far from equilibrium. As such, it has a potential to impact many walks of life.
My research will affect the publishing industry, physics students and lecturers. I will try to explain a completely new phenomenon - the supercritical supercurrent - which was thought impossible by many. Every textbook touching on aspects of superfluidity and superconductivity makes reference to the Landau criterion for superfluidity, implying that superfluidity must be destroyed above a certain critical velocity of the flow - the Landau velocity. These texts now need to be updated to take into account the observation of the supercritical superflow resulting from my research.
Majorana fermions, the quasiparticles I will try to identify in superfluid 3He, are also predicted to exist in many other topological condensed matter systems. Theoretical schemes suggest that Majorana particles may find a use in quantum computing. Since they are unaffected by small perturbations, a Majorana-based quantum computer will require a lower level of error correction than a 'conventional' quantum computer where errors occur owing to particle decoherence.
The staff trained on this project will provide a valuable resource. Today over 250 (1000) low temperature research groups (researchers) in Europe make use of sub-Kelvin temperatures. Ten major companies and 15 SMEs have cryoengineering groups. Their total turnover is about 1 000 000 000 euros and 50 000 000 euros, respectively. This activity generates a European need for more than 100 low temperature scientists and cryoengineers per year (estimate from the European MICROKELVIN network, http://www.microkelvin.eu/). Staff working on this project will develop a broad range of skills required in designing, building and day-to-day running of the experiments. They include transferrable skills in vacuum technology, cryogenics, precise measurements, developing novel instrumentation and techniques, data analysis, preparing results for publication in high-impact journals and for presentation in front of various audiences, all very saleable skills in this expanding field.
The experience gained from the intensive programme planned for this Fellowship will contribute to shaping me into an efficient group leader.
My research will affect the publishing industry, physics students and lecturers. I will try to explain a completely new phenomenon - the supercritical supercurrent - which was thought impossible by many. Every textbook touching on aspects of superfluidity and superconductivity makes reference to the Landau criterion for superfluidity, implying that superfluidity must be destroyed above a certain critical velocity of the flow - the Landau velocity. These texts now need to be updated to take into account the observation of the supercritical superflow resulting from my research.
Majorana fermions, the quasiparticles I will try to identify in superfluid 3He, are also predicted to exist in many other topological condensed matter systems. Theoretical schemes suggest that Majorana particles may find a use in quantum computing. Since they are unaffected by small perturbations, a Majorana-based quantum computer will require a lower level of error correction than a 'conventional' quantum computer where errors occur owing to particle decoherence.
The staff trained on this project will provide a valuable resource. Today over 250 (1000) low temperature research groups (researchers) in Europe make use of sub-Kelvin temperatures. Ten major companies and 15 SMEs have cryoengineering groups. Their total turnover is about 1 000 000 000 euros and 50 000 000 euros, respectively. This activity generates a European need for more than 100 low temperature scientists and cryoengineers per year (estimate from the European MICROKELVIN network, http://www.microkelvin.eu/). Staff working on this project will develop a broad range of skills required in designing, building and day-to-day running of the experiments. They include transferrable skills in vacuum technology, cryogenics, precise measurements, developing novel instrumentation and techniques, data analysis, preparing results for publication in high-impact journals and for presentation in front of various audiences, all very saleable skills in this expanding field.
The experience gained from the intensive programme planned for this Fellowship will contribute to shaping me into an efficient group leader.
Publications
Siddiq H
(2023)
Visualization of oscillatory electron dynamics on the surface of liquid helium
in Physical Review B
Guénault A
(2020)
Detecting a phonon flux in superfluid He 4 by a nanomechanical resonator
in Physical Review B
Guénault A
(2023)
A low-frequency, high-amplitude, torsional oscillator for studies of quantum fluids and solids
in Physics of Fluids
Guénault A
(2019)
Probing superfluid He 4 with high-frequency nanomechanical resonators down to millikelvin temperatures
in Physical Review B
Guénault A
(2019)
Acoustic damping of quartz tuning forks in normal and superfluid He 3
in Physical Review B
Guthrie A
(2019)
Multimode probing of superfluid 4He by tuning forks
in Applied Physics Letters
Chawner JMA
(2019)
LEGO® Block Structures as a Sub-Kelvin Thermal Insulator.
in Scientific reports
Title | How to make a silver sinter for low temperature experiments |
Description | A series of videos describes the process of making efficient silver sinter heat exchangers for ultralow temperatures. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Impact | Several researchers thanked me for making this series of videos available |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYckSotOjNgdsTBxOeDyZD3PTHaa-KZk4 |
Title | Making a copper demagnetisation stage |
Description | In this series of videos we show the process of making a nuclear demagnetisation stage for ultralow temperature experiments |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Impact | Several researchers have contacted me and thanked for the videos. |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYckSotOjNgeyidRlgXlQT9AUWLBMvo1F |
Title | The World's Coolest LEGO Set! An educational film. |
Description | A world leading team of ultra-low temperature physicists at Lancaster University decided to place a LEGO figure and four LEGO blocks inside their record-breaking dilution refrigerator. This machine - specially made at the University - is the most effective refrigerator in the world, capable of reaching 1.6 millidegrees above absolute zero (minus 273.15 Centigrade), which is about 200,000 times colder than room temperature and 2,000 times colder than deep space. The film has subtitles in 8 languages. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | The excerpts of the film were shown by CNN with a reach of 380 million households and featured by several hundred other news outlets around the world. The film was viewed more than 400 thousand times on traceable outlets (>130,000 views on YouTube alone). The film educates the public about the field of low-temperature physics and the absolute scale of temperatures. |
URL | https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/939845-the-world-s-coolest-lego-set |
Description | The ground state of a fermionic superfluid condensate is well protected against perturbations in the presence of an isotropic gap. Regions of gap suppression, surfaces and vortex cores which host Andreev-bound states, seemingly lift that strict protection. We have shown that the role of bound states is more subtle: when a macroscopic object moves in superfluid 3He at velocities exceeding the Landau critical velocity, little to no bulk pair breaking takes place, while the damping observed originates from the bound states covering the moving object. We identified two separate timescales that govern the bound state dynamics, one of them much longer than theoretically anticipated, and showed that the bound states do not interact with bulk excitations. We managed to create and characterise highly non-equilibrium states in the surface-bound edge superfluid in 3He-B at temperatures below 200 microkelvins. This allowed us to identify transport of excitations in this superfluid for the first time. Quite possibly, the transport of these excitations along the edges is responsible for energy transfer within the superfluid 3He-B, since in bulk 3He-B the excitations are essentially frozen out. We found that certain 3D printed materials are exceptionally good thermal insulators at sub-kelvin temperatures. This finding opens up many new opportunities in constructing low-temperature instruments such as dilution refrigerators as well as designing and building new experimental setups using cheap and precise methods. We have investigated the Kapitza resistance between superfluid helium-3 and silver sinter. Kapitza resistance is the measure of how well different materials are thermally coupled at low temperatures. We found that Kapitza resistance increases by a factor of 2 when the surface of the sinter is covered with two atomic layers of helium-4, the non-magnetic isotope of helium. This observation suggests that the magnetic impurities in the sinter play an important role in lowering the Kapitza resistance. This fact can be used in constructing new instruments, such as heat exchangers for dilution refrigerators and will help decrease the limit of the lowest achievable temperatures in superfluid helium-3 experiments, potentially opening up a new excitation-free regime of the superfluid condensate. We have developed a new type of probe for superfluid non-equilibrium dynamics in collaboration with colleagues from Madrid's King Juan Carlos University. According to our calculations, a levitating superconducting sphere can be precisely controlled, allowing motion with a constant speed both in a straight line and in a circle. We have built a successful prototype and characterised its performance in superfluid 4He at temperatures below 2 kelvins. In future, this device will allow us to quantify the spectrum of Andreev-bound excitations in superfluid 3He-B. It will serve as a unique probe for the edge superfluid in 3He-B, providing a means of creating a topologically isolated edge superfluid and means for manipulating this condensate. We have developed a new top-down fabrication method for superconducting nanowire oscillators with circular cross section. The wires will serve as highly sensitive probes for both the edge superfluid and bulk 3He-B as well as topological defects in these superfluids. |
Exploitation Route | The knowledge that the Landau velocity can be neglected in certain scenarios can for instance influence speculations on neutron star superfluidity, where fermionic superfluidity is expected. This might help design new devices based on topological superconductivity and superfluidity. Our finding was already used to explain the phenomenon of anomalous thermal conductivity in confined geometries in superfluid 3He-b by the groups at Cornell University and Royal Holloway University of London. Using additive technologies (3D printing) in cryo-engineering might help drive down the price of research equipment such as dilution refrigerators, making low temperatures more accessible for a wider range of researchers. Increasing the efficiency of heat exchangers used in dilution refrigerators might boost their performance and allow to achieve lower temperatures than possible now, opening up new opportunities to low-temperature physicists. The new type of oscillating nanowire probe can be easily adapted for many experiments as a more sensitive and robust alternative. The levitating superconducting probe can be used for probing intricate details of 3He superfluids as well as superfluid hydrodynamics in both 3He and 4He. |
Sectors | Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Other |
Description | We have made a YouTube film about our research. The film itself was viewed more than 100k times https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaIFZsBOeZc The film has won top awards at two international science film festivals. The film has enjoyed overwhelmingly positive feedback from the research community, school teachers and students. Moreover, excerpts from the film were shown on CNN, reaching hundreds of millions of households worldwide. The research, on which the film is based, has been highlighted by the world press in 31 languages and 60 countries. Among them CNN, The Times, The Times of India, USA Today, NY Post, Physics World. Our experiment is featured in the A-level magazine "Physics Review" (Feb'22) in an article explaining the concept of absolute zero of temperature. |
First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
Sector | Education |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
Description | "Non-equilibrium and emergent phenomena in superfluid 3He" |
Amount | £50,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 1960367 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2017 |
End | 09/2021 |
Description | Creation and evolution of quantum turbulence in novel geometries |
Amount | £1,043,015 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/X004597/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2023 |
End | 08/2027 |
Description | EPSRC Studentship |
Amount | £54,630 (GBP) |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2021 |
End | 04/2025 |
Description | Fellowship for Samuli Autti |
Amount | € 47,000 (EUR) |
Organisation | Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Finland |
Start | 01/2019 |
End | 12/2019 |
Description | Fellowship for Samuli Autti |
Amount | € 47,000 (EUR) |
Organisation | Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Finland |
Start | 01/2018 |
End | 12/2018 |
Description | Pushing the boundaries of superfluid vacuum and coherence |
Amount | £1,510,206 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/W015730/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2022 |
End | 04/2027 |
Description | Quantum Enhanced Superfluid Technologies for Dark Matter and Cosmology |
Amount | £1,272,336 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/T006773/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 12/2020 |
End | 04/2025 |
Description | Superconducting levitators as probes for quantum and classical hydrodynamics |
Amount | 4,927,000 Kč (CZK) |
Funding ID | 24-12601O |
Organisation | Czech Science Foundation |
Sector | Public |
Country | Czech Republic |
Start | 02/2024 |
End | 12/2026 |
Title | Computer-assisted coil winding machine |
Description | We have developed and built a coil-winding machine for making superconducting magnets. The machine has a computer interface, which allows the user to specify exact parameters of the coils and to control and facilitate the winding process. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | We have built one large NMR magnet optimised for 30 mT in a ~1cm^3 volume and with homogeneity of 10^-4. We have also built several smaller magnets for controlling a levitating superconducting sphere. |
Title | Helium isotope separation facility |
Description | Helium isotope separation facility separates 3He and 4He atoms using chromatography at 4.2 K. We have improved the previous design (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10909-005-2318-8) and obtained a significant increase in the performance of the apparatus. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | We were able to recover 100 litres of pure 3He (>99.99%) from contaminated (1% 4He) 3He. The market cost of this amount of 3He is ~£200,000. |
Title | Method for fabrication of superconducting nano-wire resonators |
Description | Fabrication of superconducting nanomechanical resonators for quantum research, detectors and devices traditionally relies on a lithographic process, resulting in oscillators with sharp edges and a suspended length limited to a few 100 micrometres. We report a low-investment top-down approach to fabricating NbTi nanowire resonators with suspended lengths up to several millimetres and diameters down to 100 nanometres. The nanowires possess high critical currents and fields, making them a natural choice for magnetomotive actuation and sensing. This fabrication technique is independent of the substrate material, dimensions and layout and can readily be adapted to fabricate nanowire resonators from any metal or alloy with suitable ductility and yield strength. Our work thus opens access to a new class of nanomechanical devices with applications including microscopic and mesoscopic investigations of quantum fluids, detecting dark matter and fundamental materials research in one-dimensional superconductors in vacuum. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | n/a |
URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.02452 |
Title | Methods for making silver sinter heat exchangers and superconducting heat switches for ultralow temperatures (below 100 microKelvins ) |
Description | We have developed, filmed and made publicly available procedures for making silver sinter heat exchangers and superconducting heat switches for ultralow temperatures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXD3ZA98Sms https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYckSotOjNgdsTBxOeDyZD3PTHaa-KZk4 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYckSotOjNgeyidRlgXlQT9AUWLBMvo1F |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The videos were viewed over 100 times and multiple researchers thanked me for making these videos available. |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYckSotOjNgdsTBxOeDyZD3PTHaa-KZk4 |
Title | Nonlinear two-level dynamics of quantum time crystals |
Description | Dataset for the manuscript titled "AC Josephson effect between two superfluid time crystals" by the same authors. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://zenodo.org/record/6510862 |
Description | Kapitza Institute |
Organisation | Russian Academy of Sciences |
Department | P.L. Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems |
Country | Russian Federation |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | 2018. We ran an experiment together with a visiting PhD student (Arkady Soldatov), having significantly extended his area of expertise over the 2 months of visit time. 2019. I have visited Kapitza Institute in May 2018 to discuss the progress of our experiment and their experiments. |
Collaborator Contribution | 2018. Our partners have provided valuable information based on their experience and shared samples of porous material nafen which we will use in our future experiments. 2019. We have successfully built and tested our experimental setup with a sample of nafen provided by Kapitza Institute. Their advice on handling the samples was invaluable. |
Impact | 2018. A paper is being written and a new type of helium isotope separation facility is being developed. 2019 We are now writing 2 papers on previous experiments, the isotope separation facility has proven to perform extremely well. 2020. One paper is submitted and is available on the arXiv https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.10865 |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Universidad Rey Juan Carlos |
Organisation | King Juan Carlos University |
Country | Spain |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We hosted Dr Manuel Arrayas for 10 days and discussed current and further experiments in this project. |
Collaborator Contribution | Dr Arrayas and his colleague Dr José L. Trueba agreed to start modelling a levitating actuator based upon a system of coils and superconductor. |
Impact | Dr Arrayas and his colleague Dr José L. Trueba agreed to start modelling a levitating actuator based upon a system of coils and superconductor. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | 'Approaching zero'. An educational article for A-level students |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | An article in "Physics Review" (a magazine for A-level students and teachers) about absolute zero of temperature features our renowned experiment with LEGO colled down to record-low temperatures and the references the film about this experiment. "Approaching zero" in Physics Review, vol. 31, No. 3, p. 16 (Feb 2022) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.hoddereducation.co.uk/media/Documents/magazine-extras/Physics/PhysRev%2031_3/PhysicsRevi... |
Description | A webinar series on Quantum Fluids was organised |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Together with four other colleagues D. Zmeev has organised a fortnightly webinar on Quantum Fluids. The webinar attracts about 50 regular participants both from the UK and overseas. Recordings on YouTube have over 1200 views. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv0nL5zCvwyvWiSCzqogOKQ/featured |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022 |
URL | https://uk-quantum-fluids-network.github.io/webinars/ |
Description | Continuous Professional Development event for physics teachers |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I gave a masterclass on experimental physics to 8 teachers from North-West of England in the framework of the Continuous Professional Development event. The teachers returned very positive feedback and mostly agreed in the survey that they will use their experience in their teaching. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Demonstration of properties of materials at low temperature to members of public |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | We demonstrate properties of materials at low temperatures to prospective Lancaster physics students and their parents. We also give tours of our laboratories. Approximately 1000 prospective students and 400 parents/accompanying persons have watched the demonstrations and took part in the tours. I have also gave a lecture on low temperature physics as a part of a masterclass to ~10 school pupils in May 2018 and to the 25 school students in the "East Lancashire Scholars Programme". The demonstrations always get positive reviews in the feedback forms. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019,2021,2022 |
Description | IOP Low Temperature Techniques Course |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | I gave a lecture at the IOP Low Temperature Techniques Course to an audience of ~40 PhD students and postdocs working in the field of low temperature physics. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Interview to CNN |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I gave an interview to CNN about our work on thermal insulators at sub-kelvin temperatures. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-55616-7 The report was shown by CNN International and many North American TV channels on Boxing Day 2019 to potential audience of ~300,000,000 households. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/26/us/lego-freeze-experiment-sci-trnd/index.html |
Description | Low temperature physics demonstrations |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | About 20 parents/accompanying persons of prospective students are shown around the low temperature laboratory. We also stage a demonstration of low-temperature physics experiments. The participants ask questions about the experiments and the research-centred teaching. ~10-15 visits takes place over the year. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018 |
Description | Online resource for physics schoolteachers |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | I have created an online resource for physics schoolteachers working together with a teacher coach at the Institute of Physics. The resource is a series of virtual low-temperature experiments for school students. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/physics-outreach/low-temperature-physics/ |
Description | Physics Community Day |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A community engagement event at the Ashton Memorial in Williamson Park with 375 attendees, mainly families with children |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | WOMAD Festival 2022, World of Music, Arts and Dance |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I made a public talk about my work at the WOMAD Festival 2022, World of Music, Arts and Dance titled "Low Temperatures, LEGO® Blocks and Spherical Horses" for an audience of 200 people at the WOMAD festival. The talk was met with great enthusiasm from the public. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2022 |
Description | WOMAD Festival, World of Music, Arts and Dance |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | In 2020 I took part in the on-line WOMAD 2020 festival, representing the University. The online presentation had over 250 views. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://athome.womad.co.uk/world-of-physics-at-home/ |
Description | Why there is no speed limit in the superfluid universe |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | The press release explaining our publication on dynamics of Andreev-bound excitations in superfluid 3He and their role in faster-than-Landau motion in the superfluid. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18499-1 The publication has received AltMetric Score of 147 and over 5100 views (Feb 2022) and ranked in the top 2% of all tracked papers of similar age (more than 270,000). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/physics/about-us/news/why-there-is-no-speed-limit-in-the-superfluid-univ... |