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Space Systems Command Grants Contracts for Space Laser Communication Prototypes

The EST program, part of SSC’s Space Domain Awareness and Combat Power Program Executive Office, aims to create on-orbit crosslink compatibility among future space systems. This will be achieved through a standardized enterprise waveform implemented in a long-range space optical communications terminal that is low in size, weight, power, and...

Fusion Power Is Now a Possible Dream

Fusion power, the Holy Grail of nuclear energy for decades, may finally be within our grasp. If the scientists and engineers at Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a company with close ties to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Plasma Science and Fusion Center, are right, fusion is nearly ready for power market...

Atomic Spreading Produces Novel Superconductors

Custom layering. A single layer of the topological insulator WTe2 (green) was placed on top of a row of palladium seeds (each roughly 0.5 µm wide). Over time, palladium atoms spread out across the layer and formed Pd7WTe2 (blue-green). The sample is shown before heating (left), after 25 minutes at 210 °C (center),...

100 Years of Quantum Is Just the Beginning

Recognizing the importance of quantum science and the need for wider awareness of its past and future impact, dozens of national scientific societies gathered together to support marking 100 years of quantum mechanics with a U.N.-declared international year. The timeline of endorsements for this international year also included the International Union of Pure and...

Cool It Down–Isochoric Preservation

If you’ve ever made the mistake of putting certain fresh fruits or vegetables in the freezer, then you’re already familiar with the effects of freezing on biological tissue. Banana skins turn black and slimy. Whole oranges leak and deflate. Lettuce comes out limp and soggy. The cause of all this...

Advancing Spin Qubit Technology With Cryogenic Probing

In a recent article published in Nature, researchers developed a 300-mm cryogenic probing process to obtain high-volume data on spin qubit devices across full wafers. They optimized an industry-compatible process to fabricate spin qubit devices on a low-disorder host material, enabling automated probing of single electrons in spin qubit arrays across...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Refrigerators and Liquefiers

Two of the most common terms used in cryogenics are “refrigerator” and “liquefier.” These terms describe similar and, as will be seen, in some cases identical components. A refrigerator provides cooling (that is, absorbs heat) at cryogenic temperatures. Refrigerators typically put a working fluid (such as helium) through one of...

Air Separation

Air separation is one of the largest, as well as earliest, industrial applications of cryogenics. In this process, cryogenic temperatures are used to separate air into its constituent gases: nitrogen (78.08%), oxygen (20.95%), argon (0.93%) and carbon dioxide (0.3%). Trace gases such as krypton, neon, xenon and helium total far...

Coefficient of Performance and Figure of Merit

The coefficient of performance (COP) is used to describe the effectiveness of refrigerators, including those operating at cryogenic temperatures. The COP is defined as the amount of heat removed at the cryogenic operating temperature of the refrigerator divided by the amount of work that must be applied to remove the...

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

Looking for the thermal conductivity of the high density polyethylene (HDPE) between 1.9 and 10K

I am looking for the thermal conductivity of the high density polyethylene (HDPE) between 1.9 and 10K (or even up to higher temperatures). The best would be to have these data for the HDPE material which sold by the CERN shop, which has a density of 0.95 g/cm3. Pier Paolo...