Stress- and temperature-dependent hysteresis of the shear modulus of solid helium

Abstract

The shear modulus of solid He-4 below 200 mK exhibits an unusual increase, the characteristics of which show remarkable similarities to those of the period reduction in torsional oscillator experiments. We systematically studied the drive strain and temperature dependence of the shear modulus at low temperatures. The hysteretic behavior depends strongly on the drive and cooling history, which can be associated with the thermally assisted Granato-Lucke dislocation theory. The phase diagram of the shear modulus is constructed on the basis of the emerging hysteretic behavior. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.094512