Cold Facts Digital – The go-to place for Cryogenics and Superconductivity

Toward a resolution of the proton form factor problem

In the paper "Towards a Resolution of the Proton Form Factor Problem: New Electron and Positron Scattering Data" published in Physical Review Letters, D. Adikaram et al. report findings that may resolve a puzzle that has confounded physicists for the last decade: the baffling discrepancy between measurements of two different...

MIT team creates ultracold molecules

Experimental physicists at MIT have successfully cooled molecules in a gas of sodium potassium (NaK) to a temperature of 500 nanokelvins, inducing the strongest dipoles in ultracold molecules yet. Their findings, published in Physical Review Letters, support the possibility that molecules may start to exhibit exotic states of matter at...

Winners of Bernd T. Matthias Prize for Superconducting Materials announced

Three scientists have been named as recipients of the 2015 Bernd T. Matthias Prize for Superconducting Materials, an international prize awarded for innovative contributions to the field. The prize will be formally presented during the 2015 International Conference on Materials and Mechanisms of Superconductivity in Switzerland this August.

Two CryoTel CT-Fs return to Earth on the Dragon X

NASA confirmed on May 21 that the Space X Dragon successfully splashed down at 12:42 EST in the Pacific. The spacecraft was returning from the International Space Station with two POLAR freezers incorporating a CryoTel CT-F cryocooler in each.

Fermilab named a Historic Site by the American Physical Society

The American Physical Society has recognized the US Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory as a Historic Site for its nearly five decades of contributions to high energy physics.

SC study’s reported successes and failures provide valuable data

In their paper "Exploration of new superconductors and functional materials, and fabrication of superconducting tapes and wires of iron pnictides" published in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, researchers report on four years of extensive research on around 1,000 materials, with detailed insights learned from the new superconducting materials discovered...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Regenerators

Regenerators or regenerative heat exchangers are a key component of cryocoolers such as pulse tube cryocoolers (Cold Facts, August 2014). Regenerator performance greatly affects the coefficient of performance of cryocoolers. Improvements in regenerator design and, in particular, regenerator materials have been an important factor in the improvement of the performance...

Pulse Tube Cryocoolers

The development of pulse tube cryocoolers has been a significant topic of research and development over the past 20 or so years. Pulse tube cryocoolers have a number of advantages over other types of cryocoolers and are now available commercially. In order to understand pulse tube cryocoolers, it’s best to...

Thermal Expansion

Thermal expansion refers to the change in size (length or volume) that a material undergoes as its temperature changes. In cryogenic systems this effect can be quite large and must be allowed for in the design. In isotropic materials, which include most engineering materials, the thermal expansion is the same...

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?

CATEGORIES