Low-Temperature Physics

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XIV

   PDF

2. Quantum Fluids

   1. Helium — General Properties

      Pages 3-13

   2. Superfluid 4He — Helium II

      Pages 15-76

   3. Normal-Fluid 3He

      Pages 77-96

   4. Superfluid 3He

      Pages 97-146

   5. Mixtures of 3He and 4He

      Pages 147-163

3. Solids at Low Temperatures

   1. Phonons

      Pages 167-203

   2. Conduction Electrons

      Pages 205-243

   3. Magnetic Moments — Spins

      Pages 245-282

   4. Tunneling Systems

      Pages 283-341

   5. Superconductivity

      Pages 343-446

4. Principles of Refrigeration and Thermometry

   1. Cooling Techniques

      Pages 449-504

   2. Thermometry

      Pages 505-541

5. Back Matter

   Pages 543-573

   PDF

Science is often a journey to the limits of the feasible and ascertainable. In low-temperature physics this journey strives towards absolute zero. When Louis Cailletet on December 2nd, 1877, realized a major step in terms of the production of low temperatures, namely the ?rst liquefaction of oxygen, he could hardly imagine the wealth of exciting physical phenomena that would bediscoveredinthis?eld. Despitetheanticipation fromeverydayexperience, which generally equates cold with discomfort and sti?ening, condensed m- ter at low temperatures reveals a wide array of fascinating properties. As the mostprominentexamplesletusmentionsuper?uidityandsuperconductivity, whose attraction is undiminished since their discovery. With every step - wards lower temperatures numerous new insights have resulted, which make the traditional subject of low-temperature physics an attractive and modern research topic. The present book is based on material from lectures that both authors have given several times at the universities of Heidelberg, Bayreuth and Konstanz. It is focused on the discussion of physical phenomena that become most apparent at low temperatures. The book is mainly aimed at students, and provides a compact and comprehensible introduction to various topics of low-temperature physics. Selection and emphasis of the material is subj- tive and certainly re?ects our personal preferences. However, we have tried to give room for as wide a spectrum of topics as possible. The contents are organized in three parts, entitled quantum ?uids, solids at low temperatures and principles of refrigeration and thermometry.

• Low-temperature phenomena in solids
• Low-temperature physics
• Low-temperature techniques
• Quantum fluids
• Superconductors
• development
• physics
• technology

Low Temperature Physics is unique in the breadth of topics covered in one text and the extent to which it emphasizes the interconnectedness of various subjects, which is frequently lost in this age of specialization. Christian Enss and Siegfried Hunklinger have written an extremely readable book... [T]he book treats well the classical topics of the field of low-temperature physics, and it does an excellent job in about 550 pages... [M]uch is to be learned from Enss and Hunklinger's book. And students who read Low Temperature Physics will benefit from it.

      --Allen Goldman, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in Physics Today, July 2006

• Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

  Christian Enss, Siegfried Hunklinger

Policies and ethics