Superfluidity of 4He confined in nanoporous media

We have examined superfluid properties of He-4 confined to a nanoporous Gelsil glass that has nanopores 2.5 nm in diameter. The pressure-temperature phase diagram was determined by torsional oscillator, heat capacity, and pressure studies. The superfluid transition temperature T-c approaches zero at 3.4 MPa, indicating a novel quantum superfluid transition. By heat capacity measurements, the nonsuperfluid phase adjacent to the superfluid and solid phases is identified to be a nanometer-scale, localized Bose condensation state, in which global phase coherence is destroyed. At high pressures, the superfluid density has a T-linear term, and T-c is proportional to the zero-temperature superfluid density. These results strongly suggest that phase fluctuations in the superfluid order parameter play a dominant role on the phase diagram and superfluid properties. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.