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IEEE CSC Graduate Study Fellowship winners announced

The IEEE Council on Superconductivity (CSC) Awards Committee has announced the winners of the 2015 IEEE CSC Graduate Study Fellowship. The fellowship is awarded annually to a full-time graduate student pursuing a PhD (or equivalent) degree in the area of applied superconductivity and is intended to encourage students to enter...

LCLS-II Upgrade to Enable Pioneering Research in Many Fields

Cold Facts visited Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory recently to learn more about the lab's involvement in LCLS-II, a project that will provide a major upgrade to the functionality of the existing Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Laboratory. LCLS-II involves several scientific institutions, features cutting-edge physics...

PIP-II to Advance Intense Particle Beam Physics

With the power of Proton Improvement Plan-II, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is planning to construct and operate the foremost facility in the world for particle physics utilizing intense beams.

Pump Design and Operation Tips from DH Industries

Pumps and their efficiencies will increase the heat load of a closed loop cryogenic cooling system, so it is important that these pumps be as efficient as possible to minimize cost and supply use. Francesco Dioguardi, Martijn Donkers and Harrie Vermeulen of DH Industries provide pump design and operation tips...

Development of HTS CORC Cables for High Field Magnets and Advanced Power Transmission

Dr. Danko van der Laan, the 2014 Roger W. Boom awardee, discusses the development of high temperature superconductors (HTS) and their applications in high field magnets and advanced power transmission. He also explains an approach to cable ReBCO tapes called Conductor on Round Core (CORC™) cables, which feature layers of...

Superconductivity record bolstered by magnetic data

Nature reports that scientists in Germany have observed the common molecule hydrogen sulfide superconducting at a record-breaking 203K (-70°C) when subjected to very high pressures. Researchers A. P. Drozdov, M. I. Eremets, I. A. Troyan, V. Ksenofontov and S. I. Shylin report their findings in their paper "Conventional superconductivity at...

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

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

Power usage: cryogenic systems vs. regular refrigerators

A recent project highlighted to me that closed cycle cryogenic cooling systems use far more electrical power to reduce temperatures by a few watts than regular refrigerators. I am sure it must be something to do with the extra difficulty of removing the heat from the liquid nitrogen or similar...

Redundancy strategies for mechanical -80C freezers

I was wondering what kind of redundancy strategies are people using for their mechanical -80C freezers? I am aware of the following. Please add if you are doing something different. 1) 1 Backup freezer for every 10 freezers – Empty and maintained at -80C at all times 2) Backup C02...

Safety guidelines for handling cryo vessels of nitrogen

I am looking for any safety guidelines for handling cryogenic vessels of nitrogen indoors and outdoors. I am especially interested in recommendations for area monitors to detect leaks, flow detection devices, etc.

Method to move components in a cryogenic environment

Does anyone know of a method with which to reliably move components in a cryogenic environment? We are interested in moving detectors in a cryogenically cooled (2K) vacuum chamber, which is contained within a larger cryostat/isolation vacuum with thermal shields. As the desired horizontal or vertical displacement is between 10...

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