Electromechanical feedback control of nanoscale superflow

Abstract

Superfluid ^4 He is a promising material for optomechanical and electromechanical applications due to its low acoustic loss. Some of the more intriguing aspects of superfluidity—the macroscopic coherence, topological nature of vorticity, and capability of supporting non-classical flows—remain, however, poorly explored resources in opto- and electro-mechanical systems. Here, we present an electromechanical coupling to pure superflow inside a nanofluidic Helmholtz resonator with viscously clamped normal fluid. The system is capable of simultaneous measurement of displacement and velocity of the Helmholtz mechanical mode weakly driven by incoherent environmental noise. Additionally, we implement feedback capable of inducing self-oscillation of the non-classical acoustic mode, damping the motion below the ambient level, and tuning of the mode frequency.

Keywords

• superfluid helium
• electromechanics
• feedback control