VISUALIZATION OF TAYLOR-COUETTE FLOW IN SUPERFLUID-HELIUM

The flow of superfluid helium in an annular gap of 5 mm width between two concentric cylinders has been investigated in the temperature rang e 1.6-2.1 K. While the outer cylinder was fixed, the inner cylinder ro tated at rotation rates between 0.2 and 1.0 rev s-1. Hollow glass sphe res of an appropriate average density and a diameter 20 mum less-than- or-equal-to d less-than-or-equal-to 50 mum were used to visualize the flow field. Taylor vortices with an approximately quadratic cross-sect ion were observed over the whole parameter range investigated.