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attocube systems AG Receives Quantum Effects Award 2024

On October 8, 2024, attocube systems AG was honored with the prestigious Quantum Effects Award, recognizing their groundbreaking contributions to bridging traditional and quantum technologies. This award celebrates innovations that drive the commercial use of quantum technologies, and attocube was specifically recognized in the category of ‘Quantum Communication & Networks’...

H2 Storage System Successfully Scaled up

Since September 2023, AMBARtec has been testing its 7.5 kg H2 storage system in full operation with hydrogen. The aim was also to optimise the plant control and find the best system configuration in terms of energy balance. Maximum energy efficiency: AMBARtec’s storage system + SOECThe energy balance analysis shows...

Oxford Instruments NanoScience Joins Rigetti’s Novera QPU Partner Program

Oxford Instruments NanoScience, a leading provider of cryogenic systems, announced that it has joined the Novera™ QPU Partner Program. This addition strengthens the program’s ecosystem of quantum computing hardware, software, and service providers who build and offer integral components of functional quantum computing systems. The Novera QPU Partner Program, launched...

Saving Florida’s Blighted Corals

Florida’s coral reefs are critical to the state’s economy. They protect beaches and play a vital role in supporting thriving fisheries. However, time may be running out to witness some types of live coral in the Florida Keys. A severe heat wave in the summer of 2023 killed many species, and...

CEC to Award Two Prestigious Scholarships at 2025 Conference

The Cryogenic Engineering Conference (CEC) will award two distinguished scholarships at the upcoming 2025 CEC/ICMC: the Donna Jung Memorial Scholarship Award and the Klaus and Jean Timmerhaus Scholarship Award. These awards are part of the CEC’s ongoing efforts to encourage the next generation of engineers and scientists in the field...

Beckman Institute Labs Bridge Advanced Imaging and Alzheimer’s Research

The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has embarked on a life-changing research project to advance the early detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. With the support of a $3 million grant from the US National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Helium-3

Helium-3 (3He) is one of the two stable isotopes of helium. The other is the much more common Helium-4 (4He). Neither of these isotopes should be confused with He II, which is the second liquid phase of 4He. He II was discussed in this column in the Spring 2010 edition...

Cryopumping

Cryopumping refers to the use of cryogenic temperatures to produce vacuum in enclosed spaces. More broadly, it can also refer to the removal of gases via cryogenic temperatures from a flow stream or enclosure without necessarily resulting in vacuum pressures. This is an important application of cryogenics and is used...

Thermal Acoustic Oscillations

Thermal Acoustic Oscillations (TAO) are a common event in cryogenic systems that can have significant adverse effects on the performance of the system. TAOs are sustained pressure oscillations that can occur in tubes containing gas, closed at one end (the warm end) that have a very large temperature gradient along...

Latest in Cryo Central

Air Separation and Liquefaction

by Nils Tellier, PE, President, EPSIM Corporation (CSA CSM) nils@epsim.us All illustrations courtesy EPSIM Corporation Background History of Air Separation and Liquefaction This section builds on a rich history of methods to develop deep refrigeration and cryogenic liquefaction during the 19th Century. You are encouraged to read Cryo Central’s History...

Bose-Einstein Condensate

A Bose-Einstein condensate, first proposed in 1925 by Albert Einstein based on work done by Satyendra Nath Bose (the same Bose from whom the term boson is derived), is a super-cold state of matter in which almost all of the individual atoms have “condensed” down to the lowest possible quantum...

Cold Technology for Pest Control

While it does not reach temperatures cold enough to be called cryogenic, carbon dioxide snow is at the heart of a new way of dealing with unwanted pests. It utilizes a quick freezing process that takes advantage of the properties of carbon dioxide snow and has a number of benefits...

Cryogenic Finishing

The following 3 articles discuss the uses and procedures of various type of cryogenic finishing. 1) By Robin A. Rhodes, Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Cryogenic Deflashing is employed to remove undesired residual mold flash that remains on molded parts after they are removed or ejected from the...

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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