The Dynamics of Vortex Generation in Superfluid 3He-B

A profound change occurs in the stability of quantized vortices in externally applied flow of superfluid 3He-B at temperatures ≲0.6 Tc, owing to the rapidly decreasing damping in vortex motion with decreasing temperature. At low damping an evolving vortex may become unstable and generate a new independent vortex loop. This single-vortex instability is the generic precursor of turbulence. We investigate the instability with non-invasive NMR measurements on a rotating cylindrical sample in the intermediate temperature regime (0.3–0.6) Tc. From comparisons with numerical calculations we interpret that the instability occurs at the container wall, when the vortex end moves along the wall in applied flow.