The appearance and dynamical behavior of a He I-He II phase interface
is investigated experimentally. The experimental mode in which nearly
saturated He I initially at a little bit higher temperature than the l
ambda temperature is cooled by sudden evaporative cooling is primarily
employed in the present experiment among several possibilities. In th
is mode where an interface appears and propagates downward, some dynam
ical aspects of an interface layer can be preferably investigated. The
phenomenon is investigated by the application of the schlieren visual
ization method, and by measuring the temperature variation by supercon
ductive temperature sensors and the pressure variation as well as the
evaporating vapor flow rate which can be converted into the cooling ra
te. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.