When imbibed in an anisotropic silica aerogel, superfluid 3He undergoes a temperature-driven “orbital flop" transition, where the orbital quantization axis rotates by 90 degrees. Here, by simulating planar and nematic aerogel, M. D. Nguyen et al. show that the orbital flop transition is driven by the distinct large- and small-scale structures of the aerogel.
- M. D. Nguyen
- Joshua Simon
- W. P. Halperin
