Fig. 3: Projection of aerogel structure for anisotropic aerogel.
From: Orbital-flop transition of superfluid 3He in anisotropic silica aerogel
The projections reveal clear anisotropic strand structures for ϵ ≠ 1 (as compared with isotropic aerogel in Fig. 1c). Illustrative cartoons in the insets depict the strands as cylinders. a For ϵ = 0.25, the projections onto the xz- and yz-planes reveal long structures parallel to the anisotropy direction, ϵ, corresponding to nematic strands. The projection along z into the xy-plane reveals strands oriented along z correlated in their positions in the xy-plane. b For ϵ = 4, sheets of aerogel strands form in the xy-plane, perpendicular to ϵ with gaps between sheets (inset). The projection along z into the xy-plane reveals a random structure indicating that the orientation of the strands between distantly separated sheets are uncorrelated.
