Gravity waves on the surface of topological superfluid 3He-B

Abstract

We have observed waves on the free surface of 3He-B sample at temperatures below 0.2mK. The waves are excited by vibrations of the cryostat and detected by coupling the surface to the Bose-Einstein condensate of magnon quasiparticles in the superfluid. The two lowest gravity-wave modes in our cylindrical container are identified. Damping of the waves increases with temperature linearly with the density of thermal quasiparticles, as expected. Additionally finite damping of the waves in the zero-temperature limit and enhancement of magnetic relaxation of magnon condensates by the surface waves are observed. We discuss whether the latter effects may be related to Majorana fermions bound to the surface of the topological superfluid.