Visualization of Kelvin waves on quantum vortices

In superfluid helium, vorticity is quantized and constrained on line-like phase singularities, called quantum or quantized vortices. By visualizing the motion of sub-micron frozen particles in superfluid $^{4}$He, we directly observe for the first time the helical Kelvin waves excited after quantized vortex reconnections. We compare the data with self-similar solutions of vortex filament models. We report the results in a fluid dynamic video.
Comment: Includes 2 videos. Submitted to the Gallery of Fluid Motion of the 65th Annual DFD Meeting of the APS in San Diego, 2012