Refrigeration bound of heat-producing cylinders by superfluid helium

Abstract

In this paper we go ahead in our studies on refrigeration of nanosystems by superfluid helium, as an appealing subject for future applications to computers or astronautical precision nanodevices. We first recall the effective thermal conductivity in laminar counterflow superfluid helium through arrays of mutually parallel cylinders and we discuss the conditions for the appearance of quantum turbulence around the heat-producing cylinders. We then consider the cooling of an array of heat-producing cylindrical nanosystems by means of superfluid-helium counterflow. We discuss the upper bound on heat removal set by avoidance of quantum turbulence and avoidance of phase transition to normal He I, for arrays of cylinders placed between two infinite insulating plates and with heat flowing in the two dimensions parallel to such plates.