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MIT Discovers Material that Performs as Both Topological Insulator and Superconductor

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology reports that the exact same material can be turned into either a topological insulator or a superconductor. The new findings reveal that in a single-layer crystal form, at temperatures from less than 1 K to the liquid nitrogen range of -320°F, hosts three distinct phases,...

Cool Innovations for Clean Energy

Cryogenic technology is making it possible for liquid air, nitrogen and methane—including methane derived from cow slurry—to play roles in combating global warming. Read more about these efforts in coverage from physicsworld.

Why Physics Needs a Post-LHC Collider

The Large Hadron Collider is the most powerful particle accelerator ever built, and scientists there have pushed the frontiers of particle physics past old boundaries, achieving higher energies and greater numbers of collisions than ever before. So far all the colliders up through the LHC have revealed particles that behave...

Pushing the Extra Cold Frontiers of Superconducting Science

Measuring the properties of superconducting materials in magnetic fields at temperatures close to absolute zero is considered difficult but necessary by many researchers, helping them understand quantum properties.

Cool Pair Plus Announces New Acquisition

Cool Pair Plus, a CSA CSM, announced that it has acquired the Tripwire product line from Simplexable LLC, calling it an important addition to its existing daVinci remote magnet monitoring system.

NASA Goddard Hosts Young Women for STEM Girls Night In

Late on a Friday night, 40 high school girls arrived at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt MD for a STEM-themed sleepover, ready to learn about careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Refrigerators and Liquefiers

Two of the most common terms used in cryogenics are “refrigerator” and “liquefier.” These terms describe similar and, as will be seen, in some cases identical components. A refrigerator provides cooling (that is, absorbs heat) at cryogenic temperatures. Refrigerators typically put a working fluid (such as helium) through one of...

Air Separation

Air separation is one of the largest, as well as earliest, industrial applications of cryogenics. In this process, cryogenic temperatures are used to separate air into its constituent gases: nitrogen (78.08%), oxygen (20.95%), argon (0.93%) and carbon dioxide (0.3%). Trace gases such as krypton, neon, xenon and helium total far...

Coefficient of Performance and Figure of Merit

The coefficient of performance (COP) is used to describe the effectiveness of refrigerators, including those operating at cryogenic temperatures. The COP is defined as the amount of heat removed at the cryogenic operating temperature of the refrigerator divided by the amount of work that must be applied to remove the...

Latest in Cryo Central

Air Separation and Liquefaction

by Nils Tellier, PE, President, EPSIM Corporation (CSA CSM) nils@epsim.us All illustrations courtesy EPSIM Corporation Background History of Air Separation and Liquefaction This section builds on a rich history of methods to develop deep refrigeration and cryogenic liquefaction during the 19th Century. You are encouraged to read Cryo Central’s History...

Bose-Einstein Condensate

A Bose-Einstein condensate, first proposed in 1925 by Albert Einstein based on work done by Satyendra Nath Bose (the same Bose from whom the term boson is derived), is a super-cold state of matter in which almost all of the individual atoms have “condensed” down to the lowest possible quantum...

Cold Technology for Pest Control

While it does not reach temperatures cold enough to be called cryogenic, carbon dioxide snow is at the heart of a new way of dealing with unwanted pests. It utilizes a quick freezing process that takes advantage of the properties of carbon dioxide snow and has a number of benefits...

Cryogenic Finishing

The following 3 articles discuss the uses and procedures of various type of cryogenic finishing. 1) By Robin A. Rhodes, Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Cryogenic Deflashing is employed to remove undesired residual mold flash that remains on molded parts after they are removed or ejected from the...

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