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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

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

Cryogenic Treatment of Materials

F.J. Diekman Controlled Thermal Processing, Inc. info@metal-wear.com Cryogenic Processing (also called cryogenic treatment, and incorrectly “cryogenic tempering”) is a process that uses cryogenic temperatures to modify materials to enhance their performance. Cryogenic Processing involves the slow reduction in temperature of the material to at least -300°F (-185°C) and holding the...

Cryogenics in Space

Peter Kittel University of California-Berkeley pkittel@cal.berkeley.edu Space Cryogenics is the application of cryogenics to space missions. These applications fall into two broad areas, supporting space science missions and supporting the space transportation infrastructure. Science applications: The atmosphere is opaque to much of the electro-magnetic spectrum. In space, the absence of...

Cryosurgery

Review of Cryosurgery Boris Rubinsky, PhD Hebrew University School of Science and Engineering Research Center for Biomedical Engineering 78b Ross Building Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904 Israel rubinsky@cs.huji.ac.il as published in Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, August 2000, Vol. 2, pp. 157-187. Abstract: Cryosurgery is a surgical technique that employs freezing...

Liquefied Natural Gas

Liquefied Natural Gas as it relates to the Field of Cryogenics John W. Bonn VJ Systems, LLC johnbonn@vjsystems-lic.com Today the world is looking for a cleaner fuel and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plays a large part in achieving this goal. LNG in a liquid form is at -162°C (-259°F) 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?

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