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NASA’s Webb Pathfinder telescope successfully completes second super-cold optical test

Recently, the James Webb Space Telescope's "pathfinder telescope," or "Pathfinder," completed its second super-cold optical test. This marked the first check of specialized optical test equipment designed to illuminate the telescope's optics through to the instrument focal plains, as well as the procedures used to operate this test equipment.

LHC collides ions at new record energy

After the successful restart of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and its first months of data taking with proton collisions at a new energy frontier, the LHC is moving to a new phase, with the first lead-ion collisions of Run 2 at an energy about twice as high as...

11 articles added to the Cryogenic Treatment Database

The Cryogenic Treatment Database, CSA's resource for research and information in the field of cryogenic treatment, has been updated. We encourage you to visit the database and share this information with researchers and others in the field.

Authorities call for regulation of cryotherapy

Investigation into the recent death of Chelsea Ake-Salvacion in a liquid nitrogen cryotherapy chamber at RejuvenIce in Henderson NV points to oxygen deprivation as the cause of death. In the wake of this tragic accident, authorities are calling for steps to regulate the use of cryotherapy, which has recently been...

LCLS researchers discover new dimension to high temperature superconductivity

A team led by scientists at the US Dept. of Energy (DOE)’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory observed a new type of "charge density wave" after combining powerful magnetic pulses with some of the brightest X-rays on the planet. The resulting 3-D effect appears closely linked to high temperature superconductivity, though...

Obituary: Former BCC Chairman Harry Jones

Professor Harry (Henry) Jones died on August 24, 2015, at 70 years of age. He was a professor of condensed matter physics at the Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford University, where he worked for 44 years until his retirement in 2012. Jones also led the High Magnetic Fields and Superconductivity Group, the...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Liquid Hydrogen

Hydrogen becomes a liquid at 20K and 1 bar. Liquid hydrogen (LH2) is an important substance in industry, transportation and research. Industrial uses of hydrogen include applications in the electronics, glass, chemical and metal processing fields. In these applications, the hydrogen is generally used as a room temperature gas but...

Superconducting Radiofrequency Cavities

Superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities represent an important application of cryogenics and superconductivity. SRF cavities are a technology for accelerating charged particle beams via the transfer of radiofrequency (RF) energy to the beams via resonant structures. As such, they are frequently found in large particle accelerators used for scientific research....

Thermal Radiation Shields

Actively cooled thermal radiation shields are a common feature of cryostats whose lowest temperature is less than 77K. These shields, which typically operate at temperatures between that of LN2 and 40K, block thermal radiation from higher temperatures from reaching lower temperature cryogenic components or fluids. Since the heat radiated from...

Latest in Cryo Central

Magnetic Levitation

From http://www.superconductors.org. Magnetic-levitation is an application where superconductors perform extremely well. Transport vehicles such as trains can be made to “float” on strong superconducting magnets, virtually eliminating friction between the train and its tracks. Not only would conventional electromagnets waste much of the electrical energy as heat, they would have...

Superconductivity

From Superpower website. History of Superconductivity Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 by the Dutch physicist, Heike Kammerlingh Onnes when he was able to liquefy helium by cooling it to 4 Kelvin, or -452°F. This enabled him to cool other materials close to absolute zero and investigate their electrical properties. He...

Medical Applications of Cryogenics

Neutron Therapy Cryogenics is at the heart of nuclear accelerators. Accelerators such as Fermilab’s Tevatron make neutron therapy for cancer possible. From Fermilab Today 4/20/09: Fermilab currently offers neutron therapy. But staff at Fermilab designed and built the proton accelerator used by the nation’s first hospital-based treatment center to use...

Nuclear Physics

Al Zeller National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab (NSCL) at Michigan State University zeller@nscl.msu.edu Cryogenics has a long history in nuclear physics. The technology has its origins in the use of cold traps for maintaining a vacuum, which is required to prevent beam loss and for generating high voltages used in acceleration....

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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