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Manchester Group Discovers New Family of Quasiparticles in Graphene-Based Materials

A group of researchers led by Sir Andre Geim and Dr Alexey Berdyugin at the UK University of Manchester have discovered and characterized a new family of quasiparticles named "Brown-Zak fermions" in graphene-based superlattices. The study follows years of successive advances in graphene-boron nitride superlattices which allowed the observation of...

Preparatory ‘Pre-lab’ Proposed for ILC

On September 10, the International Committee for Future Accelerators announced the structure and members of a new organizational team to prepare a “pre-laboratory” for an International Linear Collider in Japan. The ILC International Development Team, which consists of an executive board and three working groups—governing the pre-lab setup, accelerator, physics...

REBCO HTS Wire Manufacturer SuperPower Relocates to New Facility

On August 24, SuperPower Inc. (CSA CSM), a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan’s Furukawa Electric Company, Ltd., announced that it has completed its move and is now operating from a new facility in Glenville NY. The company is a world leader for the development and manufacturing of REBCO-based second generation...

Berkeley Lab Selected to Lead Next-Generation Cosmic Microwave Background Experiment

The largest collaborative undertaking yet to explore the relic light emitted by the infant universe has taken a step forward with the US Department of Energy’s selection of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to lead the partnership of national labs, universities and other institutions that will carry out the...

Cryogenics Contributes to Lifesaving Pandemic Treatments, Research

For the past seven months, the US has been fighting alongside the rest of the world to reign in COVID-19. From cutting-edge research and technical developments to recovery routines and last-line-of-defense treatments, cryogenics has played a number of roles—some expected and some surprising—to aid in the international response to the...

Birth of Cloned Przewalski’s Foal Offers Genetic Diversity for Endangered Species

On August 6, 2020, the world’s first successfully cloned Przewalski’s horse was born in Texas at the veterinary facility of a ViaGen Equine collaborator, Timber Creek Veterinary. The foal, born to a domestic surrogate mother, is a clone of a male Przewalski’s horse whose DNA was cryopreserved 40 years ago...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Joule-Thomson Effect

The Joule-Thomson (JT) effect is a thermodynamic process that occurs when a fluid expands from high pressure to low pressure at constant enthalpy (an isenthalpic process). Such a process can be approximated in the real world by expanding a fluid from high pressure to low pressure across a valve. Under...

Current Leads

One of the challenges of using superconducting magnets is the connection of the magnet to a room temperature power supply. This is accomplished via current leads. The trick is that current leads should ideally have a low heat leak, since they connect room temperature to cryogenic temperature, while at the...

Multilayer Insulation

Multilayer insulation (also referred to as superinsulation) is a key component in the reduction of heat leak to cryogenic systems due to thermal radiation. MLI consists of a series of uncooled reflective surfaces placed in the vacuum space between two surfaces, one warmer than the other. Generally speaking, for ideal...

Latest in Cryo Central

Cryogenic Electronics

Randall Kirschman, consulting physicist, Mountain View, California ExtElect@gmail.com Cryogenic electronics—the operation of electronic devices, circuits, and systems at cryogenic temperatures—has been a valuable technology for decades. Cryogenic electronics (also referred to as low-temperature electronics, or cold electronics) can be based on semiconductive devices, on superconductive devices, or on a combination...

Particle Physics: High Energy Physics

Cryogenics and High-Energy Physics 1. From symmetry magazine: http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/cms/?pid=1000627: Cryogenics is the study of how materials behave at temperatures near absolute zero. In high-energy particle accelerators, such frigid temperatures reduce the electrical resistance of wires in superconducting magnets, increasing the magnet strength and allowing faster particle acceleration. The same holds...

HTS Degaussing Systems

From the Spring 2009 issue of Cold Facts (Volume 25, Number 2): Thanks to a joint project by the US Navy and a number of industry partners, high temperature superconducting (HTS) technology is now at the heart of an advanced degaussing system aboard the USS Higgins at the naval station...

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

From http://www.superconductors.org: An area where superconductors can perform a life-saving function is in the field of biomagnetism. Doctors need a non-invasive means of determining what’s going on inside the human body. By impinging a strong superconductor-derived magnetic field into the body, hydrogen atoms that exist in the body’s water and...

Latest in Ask the Experts

An Issue of Pressure and Flow Rate in a Supply Tank

Please help solve this problem: A supply tank requires a vaporizer to generate sufficient pressure to pump stored fluid up into a vehicle or tank. The available head is limited as the tank level falls and it is important to minimize the system pressure drop to maintain the desired flow...

Using MLI on VJ Line Joints or Cryo Storage Tanks

When installing Multi Layer Insulation (MLI) blankets on VJ line joints or cryo storage tanks should they be wrapped and tied down tight or loose? These are usually pre-cut to size. Also should they have an access hole at the point of where the molecular sieve is installed to help...

Separated layers of ice over a pipe

I want to know that why there are different layers of ice over a pipe carrying a cryogenic fluid, each layer separated with clear marks / lines? What do these layers signify?

Using nitrogen as a cryogen

Is it possible to achieve -200˚C using nitrogen as a cryogen?

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