Magnetic Levitation of Helium-3

A levitated ³He drop is an ideal platform in which to study the rotational motion of macroscopic objects at the quantum level. The strong optomechanical interaction between such a drop’s high finesse optical whispering gallery modes and deformations of its surface should enable a measurement precision capable of resolving quantum fluctuations in the angular momentum of a millimeter-scale drop [1]. Here, we demonstrate progress toward this goal. We have magnetically levitated ³He drops at temperature ~1 K, and characterized their center of mass motion. Unlike in ⁴He [2], the nuclear paramagnetism of ³He hinders its diamagnetic levitation. To stably levitate drops in high vacuum and at low temperatures, we propose to use microwave-frequency magnetic fields to randomize the nuclear spins, thereby reducing the effect of the nuclear paramagnetism.





[1] L. Childress, M.P. Schmidt, A.D. Kashkanova, C.D. Brown, G.I. Harris, A. Aiello, F. Marquardt, J.G.E. Harris. Physical Review A 96, 063842 (2017)

[2] C.D. Brown, Y. Wang, M. Namazi, G.I. Harris, M.T. Uysal, J.G.E. Harris. arXiv:2109.05618 (2021)