Surface-Induced Order Parameter Distortion in Superfluid 3He-B Measured by Nonlinear NMR

The B phase of superfluid He-3 is a three-dimensional time-reversal invariant topological superfluid, predicted to support gapless Majorana surface states. We confine superfluid He-3 into a thin nanofluidic slab geometry. In the presence of a weak symmetry-breaking magnetic field, we have observed two possible states of the confined He-3-B phase manifold, through the small tipping angle NMR response. Large tipping angle nonlinear NMR has allowed the identification of the order parameter of these states and enabled a measurement of the surface-induced gap distortion. The results for two different quasiparticle surface scattering boundary conditions are compared with the predictions of weak-coupling quasiclassical theory. We identify a textural domain wall between the two B phase states, the edge of which at the cavity surface is predicted to host gapless states, protected in the magnetic field.