Experimental realization of one dimensional helium

As the spatial dimension is lowered, locally stabilizing interactions are reduced, leading to the emergence of strongly fluctuating phases of matter without classical analogues. Here we report on the experimental observation of a one dimensional quantum liquid of ⁴He using nanoengineering by confining it within a porous material preplated with a noble gas to enhance dimensional reduction. The resulting excitations of the confined ⁴He are qualitatively different than bulk superfluid helium, and can be analyzed in terms of a mobile impurity allowing for the characterization of the emergent quantum liquid beyond the Luttinger liquid paradigm. The low dimensional helium system offers the possibility of tuning via pressure—from weakly interacting, all the way to the super Tonks-Girardeau gas of strongly interacting hard-core particles.

Adrian Del Maestro, Nathan S. Nichols, Timothy R. Prisk, Garfield Warren, Paul E. Sokol