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Researchers Engineer Ultra Sensitive Temperature Sensor

Researchers in Brazil have created an optical thermometer capable of measuring temperatures from 750 to 80 K. It operates in real time and in well-defined regions with a spatial resolution ranging from a centimeter to a micrometer. It also has practically no effect at all on the temperature of the...

Researchers Cool Chip Below 3 mK, Establish New Low Temperature Record

Physicists at the University of Basel in Switzerland have succeeded in cooling a nanoelectronic chip to a temperature lower than 3 mK. The research team used magnetic cooling to cool the electrical connections as well as the chip itself.

Dark Energy Survey Publicly Releases Data Trove

Scientists on the Dark Energy Survey publicly released data from the project's first three years during a special session held at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington DC. The release includes information on about 400 million astronomical objects, from distant galaxies billions of light-years away to stars in our...

Separate Research Teams Advance Quantum Simulators

Researchers at the Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms and at the Joint Quantum Institute at the University of Maryland have announced complementary advances in quantum studies that constitute a major step towards the realization of large-scale quantum machines.

ITER Passes 50 Percent Marker on Journey to First Plasma

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a project to prove that fusion power is both sustainable and producible on a commercial scale, reached a major milestone at the end of 2017 when construction work towards “First Plasma” passed 50 percent.

MSU Establishes Cryogenic Initiative at FRIB

The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) should garner a lot of attention in 2022 when it first delivers the intense beams that scientists will use to study everything from nuclear astrophysics to fundamental interactions and applications for society including in medicine, homeland security and industry. But the facility is...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigeration

Reaching temperatures below 1K requires different techniques than the various helium gas cycles found in large scale refrigeration plants and small cryocoolers. One of these techniques is Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigeration (ADR). This technique takes advantage of the fact that the entropy of paramagnetic materials in a magnetic field is lower than...

Cryogen-Free

A cryogen is any fluid that operates at cryogenic temperatures (below roughly 150K – 120K). Using this definition, helium gas at 40K is a cryogen. Another more restrictive definition is to use cryogen to refer specifically to liquids at cryogenic temperatures. This is generally how it is used in the...

Cryostats and Cryocoolers

A cryostat is any device designed to maintain things (including fluids) at cryogenic temperatures. In general usage, cryostats tend to be passive devices rather than providing active cooling. In this usage, cryostats keep things cold by thermally isolating them from room temperature. This generally is accomplished by a combination of...

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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