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Breakthrough Initiatives Announces Starshot, Its Light-Sail Starship of Tomorrow

Renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking and other distinguished researchers joined internet investor and science philanthropist Yuri Milner at One World Observatory to announce a new Breakthrough Initiatives project focused on space exploration and the search for life in the Universe. Called Starshot, the $100 million research and engineering program aims to...

Researchers Trigger Long-Distance Phase Transitions

A team of researchers at the Institute for Quantum Electronics at ETH Zurich has shown that particles can be made to "feel" each other even over large distances, resulting in the observation of novel phase transitions that result from energetic three-way battles.

Cryogenic Storage Suggested for Pharmaceuticals in Space

NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) has released a new report that suggests storing pharmaceuticals at cryogenic temperatures on deep space missions, including proposed expeditions to Mars. At issue is both prolonged exposure to radiation and mission lengths that extend well beyond a product's shelf life.

New Magnetism Research Brings High-Temp Superconductivity Applications Closer

A research team led by the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Argonne National Laboratory (CSA CSM) has discovered that only half the atoms in some iron-based superconductors are magnetic, providing a conclusive demonstration of the wave-like properties of metallic magnetism in these materials. The discovery allows for a clearer understanding...

Deposition Technique Results in Copper Oxide Cuprate Superconductivity

Scientists from the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have synthesized ultrathin films containing multiple samples of a copper oxide cuprate in order to study its electronic behavior at near absolute zero. As with other cuprates, the compound is an insulator in its native state and does not...

Physicists Discover Flaws in Bean’s Superconductor Theory

University of Houston physicists report finding major theoretical flaws in the "Bean" or "Critical State Model," a generally accepted theoretical explanation of how a superconductor traps and holds a magnetic field. The team's research, published in the Journal of Applied Physics, reveals unexpected new behaviors favorable to practical applications, including...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Dewar

A dewar is a type of cryostat named after Sir James Dewar, the researcher who first developed the concept of a vacuum insulated container with silvered walls to reflect thermal radiation. Dewar was the first to liquefy hydrogen, and he created the device to store his discovery. The thermos bottle...

Stirling and Gifford-McMahon Cryocoolers

Stirling and Gifford-McMahon (GM) cryocoolers are two of the most commonly used cryocoolers in cryogenics. Both devices have a significant industrial base and operate at a wide range of temperatures and capacities. The thermodynamic cycles for both of these cryocoolers are quite similar. The Stirling cycle consists of a compressor,...

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

A significant commercial application of cryogenics is the liquefaction, transport and storage of natural gas. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is generally 95 percent methane with a few percent ethane and much lower concentrations of propane and butane. LNG liquefies at 111.6 K. Unlike many applications of cryogenics, the motivation for...

Latest in Cryo Central

Magnets

From “Superconductivity: Present and Future Applications” by the Coalition for the Commercial Application of Superconductors. Particle physics uses accelerators to recreate the conditions of the early universe in an attempt to piece together the complex puzzle of how we got to where we are today. These huge machines are used...

Energy Storage

From “Superconductivity: Present and Future Applications” by the Coalition for the Commercial Application of Superconductors. With power lines increasingly congested and prone to instability, strategic injection of brief bursts of real power can play a crucial role in maintaining grid reliability. Small-scale Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) systems, based on...

Astronomy

ASTRONOMY IN SPACE by Peter V. Mason, retired, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Visiting Associate, California Institute of Technology. Pmason@alumni.caltech.edu In thinking about the reasons to perform astronomy in space, we first consider the effect of the earth’s atmosphere. On a scale of decreasing energy, gamma rays, cosmic rays, X-rays and...

Cryocoolers

What is a Cryocooler? A mechanism that can extract heat from an object (cooler) and by doing so draw its temperature down below approximately 150 Kelvin (cryo). — (Courtesy Dr. Willy Gully) What is the difference between a Cryocooler and a Cryostat? A cryostat is any device designed to maintain...

Latest in Ask the Experts

Seeking recommendations for commercial sensors

I would like to measure vibrations in small LHe cryostats. Could anybody recommend commercial sensors which would be suitable for the purpose? I am interested in the frequency range between 1Hz and a couple of KHz, with particular attention to the low frequency side.

Estimating cost of carbon steel, pure helium storage tanks

In order to perform an indicative cost assessment of our helium cryogenic plant (still in the design phase), I need an estimation of the cost of carbon steel room temperature pure helium storage tanks. The storage pressure is 20 bar. Can anyone give me suggestions about how to estimate the...

Supplier of pressure sensor that works down to 4.2 K

In an actual experiment we would like to measure the static pressure in a cryostat in the range between one and four bar. Therefore we are looking for some (more or less) cheap pressure sensors that work in liquid helium in the pressure range up to five bar. Unfortunately all...

Looking for reference/textbook suggestions

Can you suggest some reference textbooks for practical thermodynamics applications in cryogenic fields? I need textbooks with cryogenics calculations and examples, dimensioning procedures, second principle applications in cryogenics, heat load calculations, cryogenic pump application, etc. Do such books exist? Does any similar source of information exist?

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