Successive transitions and intermediate chiral phase in a superfuilid ^3He film

Abstract

Superfluidity ordering of thin ^3He films is studied by Monte Carlo simulations based on a two-dimensional lattice spin model with Z_2\times U(1)\times SO(3) symmetry. Successive phase transitions with an intermediate `chiral' phase, in which the l-vector aligns keeping the phase of the condensate disordered, is found. Possible experiments to detect the successive transitions are discussed.