Dr Arkady Soldatov (Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems, Moscow) gave a webinar on “Polar phase in 3He in nematic aerogel”.

In presentation, the stabilization of a new superfluid phase of 3He, the polar phase, will be discussed. This phase is not favorable in the bulk (impurity-free) 3He, but can be stabilized by introducing into 3He of a new type of aerogel-like material (we call it a nematic aerogel) with nearly parallel arrangement of strands, which play a role of ordered impurities. I will mostly focus on identification of the polar phase in nematic aerogel using nuclear magnetic resonance techniques, thus NMR properties of the polar phase will be considered in detail. Our observations perfectly agree with theoretical predictions and suggest that in other systems with unconventional Cooper pairing (e.g. in unconventional superconductors) similar phenomena may be found in presence of anisotropic impurities.