Magnetism of liquid³He up to 200 T

Abstract

We report measurements of nuclear magnetism of degenerate liquid 3He below 0.1 K. Nuclear polarization up to 60% was transiently obtained by rapid melting of a 80% polarized 3He solid. From simultaneous measurements of the magnetization and of the heat released during the relaxation towards magnetic equilibrium, we deduce the magnetization dependence of the free energy of the liquid, and hence the magnetization curve up to 200 T. At 26 Bar and 80 mK, we find that the susceptibility decreases with increasing magnetization. This rules out any significant metamagnetism of the liquid, in contradiction with former expectations. In order to confirm this behaviour by a static experiment, we have developed a torque magnetometer to carry out precision measurements of the equilibrium magnetization up to 30 T (corresponding to a 12% polarization) and at 50 mK. Preliminary results of this experiment are reported.