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CSA Supports Science Works

On October 14, CSA participated in the 5th annual Science Works Career Fair at the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago. Over 200 representatives from more than 40 companies and organizations staffed stations throughout the museum, including Argonne National Laboratory (CSA CSM), Microsoft, Northrop Grumman and even CBS' “Young...

LIGO and Virgo Detect Gravitational Waves Produced by Colliding Neutron Stars

Scientists worldwide reported in October the detection of both gravitational waves—ripples in space and time—and light originating from the spectacular collision of two neutron stars, marking the first time that a cosmic event has been viewed in both gravitational waves and light. The discovery was made beginning on Aug. 17...

2017 Nobel in Physics Celebrates Discovery of Gravitational Waves

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded its 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics to Drs. Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne, researchers who made decisive contributions to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and its observation of gravitational waves.

Improved Cooling Leads to Rare Achievement in Study of Antimatter

Scientists at CERN are celebrating a rare achievement in precision physics in which collaborators on its BASE experiment measured a property of antimatter 350 times as precisely as it had ever been measured before. The result was accomplished after researchers improved cooling methods for the experiment.

Webb Selfie Focus of Critical Cryogenic Test

What appears to be a unique selfie opportunity was actually a critical photo for the cryogenic testing of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in Chamber A at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The photo was used to verify the line of sight (the path light will travel) for the...

CUORE Releases First Data Collection

Researchers have released the first collection of data from the full detector of CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events), an experiment considered to be one of the most promising efforts to determine whether tiny elementary particles called neutrinos are identical to their own antiparticles.

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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