A damping mechanism and length scale for superfluid turbulence

Recent experiments have claimed to measure a Kolmogorov energy spectrum in the turbulent flow of helium II. A Kolmogorov spectrum requires a damping m echanism which has strong effects at small length scales but negligible eff ects at large length scales. We describe such a damping mechanism for heliu m II based on the mutual friction interaction between the normal fluid comp onent and the superffuid quantized vortex lines. From this mechanism we hav e derived a damping length scale for the superfluid motion, analogous to th e Kolmogorov length scale in classical turbulence. (C) 2000 Published by El sevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.