Dissipation of the kinetic energy of a tuning fork immersed in superfluid helium at different oscillation frequencies

Abstract

The drag coefficient characterizing the dissipation of the energy of oscillating tuning forks immersed in liquid helium is studied experimentally. The experiments are done at temperatures from 0.1 to 3.5 K, a range that covers both hydrodynamic flow and the ballistic transport of thermal excitations in superfluid helium below 0.6 K. It is found that a frequency dependence of the drag coefficient exists in the hydrodynamic limit, where the main dissipation mechanism is viscous friction of the liquid against the surface of the oscillating object at temperatures above 0.7 K. In this case, the drag coefficient is proportional to the square root of the oscillation frequency and its temperature dependence in He II is determined by the corresponding relationships between the density of the normal component and the viscosity of the liquid. At lower temperatures, there is no frequency dependence of the drag coefficient and the magnitude of the dissipative losses is determined only by the temperature dependence of the density of the normal component. At the same time, over the entire range of temperatures studied here, the magnitude of the dissipative losses depends on the geometrical dimensions of the oscillating object.