Quantum turbulence of bellows-driven 4He superflow: Decay

We report on studies of quantum turbulence with second sound in superfluid (4H)e in which the turbulence is generated by the flow of the superfluid component through a wide square channel, the ends of which are plugged with sintered silver superleaks, the flow being generated by compression of a bellows. The superleaks ensure that there is no net flow of the normal fluid. In an earlier paper [S. Babuin et al., Phys. Rev. B 86, 134515 (2012)] we have shown that steady flow of this kind generates a density of vortex lines that is essentially identical to that generated by thermal counterflow, when the average relative velocity between the two fluids is the same. In this paper we report on studies of the temporal decay of the vortex-line density, observed when the bellows is stopped, and we compare the results with those obtained from the temporal decay of thermal counterflow remeasured in the same channel and under the same conditions. In both cases there is an initial fast decay which, for low enough initial line density, approaches for a short time the form t(-1) characteristic of the decay of a random vortex tangle. This is followed at late times by a slower t(-3/2) decay, characteristic of the decay of large "quasiclassical" eddies. However, in the range of investigated parameters, we observe always in the case of thermal counterflow, and only in a few cases of high steady-state velocity in superflow, an intermediate regime in which the decay either does not proceed monotonically with time or passes through a point of inflexion. This difference, established firmly by our experiments, might represent one essential ingredient for the full theoretical understanding of counterflow turbulence.