Visualization of quantized vortices

Abstract

When liquid helium is cooled to below its phase transition at 2.172 K, vortices appear with cores that are only ångströms in diameter, about which the fluid circulates with quantized angular momentum¹. Here we generate small particles of solid hydrogen that can be used to image the cores of quantized vortices in their three-dimensional environment of liquid helium. This technique enables the geometry and interactions of these vortices to be observed directly.