ADVERTISEMENT

Col. Gregory H. Johnson named CASIS Executive Director

Gregory H. Johnson, Colonel (Ret), has been named executive director for the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the nonprofit entity selected by NASA to manage the utilization of the International Space Station (ISS) US National Laboratory. Col. Johnson will assume his role on September 1, 2013.

Laboratory LN2 Supply Systems: Options, Sizing and Safety

The growth of storing and preserving biological materials in cryogenic liquid nitrogen freezers has resulted in many options and challenges in how to effectively supply these systems with the cryogenic liquid they require. Evaluating options, sizing and safety considerations is critical to determining the path a university laboratory or research...

ASTA generates broad interest at users’ meeting

A crowd of researchers from government labs, academia and industry gathered at Fermilab July 23-24 for the first-ever users' meeting for the Advanced Superconducting Test Accelerator, which produced its first electrons in late June. The primary goal of ASTA is to provide a home for accelerator R&D, specifically in the...

Scientists Discover Hidden Magnetic Waves in High-Temperature Superconductors

Scientists at the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and other collaborating institutions have discovered a surprising twist in the magnetic properties of high-temperature superconductors (HTS), challenging some of the leading theories. In a new study, published online in the journal Nature Materials on August 4, scientists found...

Former SSC site now revitalized facility

Twenty years after the closing of the former Superconducting Super Collider, it is now a revitalized facility renovated by Waxahachie chemical manufacturer Magnablend. The Ellis County site improvements were highlighted in a tour the company hosted for US Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), who was instrumental in bringing the SSC facility...

ADVERTISEMENT

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...

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...