Quartz Tuning Fork: Thermometer, Pressure- and Viscometer for Helium Liquids

Commercial quartz oscillators of the tuning-fork type with a resonant frequency of ~32 kHz have been investigated in helium liquids. The oscillators are found to have at best Q values in the range 10^5-10^6, when measured in vacuum below 1.5 K. However, the variability is large and for very low temperature operation the sensor has to be preselected. We explore their properties in the regime of linear viscous hydrodynamic response in normal and superfluid 3He and 4He, by comparing measurements to the hydrodynamic model of the sensor.