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From physicsworld.com, “Atomic spins measure ultracold temperatures”

Physicists in the US have developed a new kind of thermometer that can measure down to as low as one billionth of a degree above absolute zero and has the potential to reach just a few trillionths of a degree.

CDMS results may not be dark matter

In December of last year, the CDMS-II team came across possible evidence of dark matter, though what they think may be weakly interacting mass particles, or WIMPS, may also just be background noise.

Researchers to test new superconductor material, BSCCO2212

Materials scientists, physicists, magnet experts and engineers from seven institutions have come together on the "Very High Field Superconducting Magnet Collaboration" to test a new superconducting material, BSCCO2212.

NASA’s WISE to include Lockheed Martin cryostat

A dual-stage cryostat built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto CA, is onboard NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, which launched on December 14, 2009.

Daniel P. McGahn named AMSC President and Chief Operating Officer

American Superconductor Corporation has named Daniel P. McGahn President and Chief Operating Officer.

Oxford Instruments wins Corporate Excellence Award

From the Oxford Instruments website: The British Chamber of Commerce in Japan (BCCJ) has announced that Oxford Instruments KK has won the prestigious Corporate Excellence category at the 2009 British Business Awards.

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Joule-Thomson Effect

The Joule-Thomson (JT) effect is a thermodynamic process that occurs when a fluid expands from high pressure to low pressure at constant enthalpy (an isenthalpic process). Such a process can be approximated in the real world by expanding a fluid from high pressure to low pressure across a valve. Under...

Current Leads

One of the challenges of using superconducting magnets is the connection of the magnet to a room temperature power supply. This is accomplished via current leads. The trick is that current leads should ideally have a low heat leak, since they connect room temperature to cryogenic temperature, while at the...

Multilayer Insulation

Multilayer insulation (also referred to as superinsulation) is a key component in the reduction of heat leak to cryogenic systems due to thermal radiation. MLI consists of a series of uncooled reflective surfaces placed in the vacuum space between two surfaces, one warmer than the other. Generally speaking, for ideal...

Latest in Cryo Central

Primary Standards

Elie K. Track Hypres, Inc. elie@hypres.com http://www.hypres.com/ Primary standards involve the exact definition and realization of units of measurement for various quantities, time, length, mass, voltage, resistance, current, etc. International agreements based on the latest scientific knowledge define those units, and their realizations vary depending on the unit itself. For...

Shrink Fitting

Robin A. Rhodes Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Shrink fitting, (or “compression fitting” as it is sometimes called), is a method used to insert a pin or bushing into a housing or other assembly requiring an extremely tight tolerance fit. It can be used as an alternative to...

Telecommunications

From the Winter 2004 issue of Cold Facts magazine The recent M-Calc IV — 4th Industry Assessment workshop discussing military and commercial applications for low-cost cryocoolers, held in November in San Diego, highlighted progress being made in cryogenics as applied in telecommunications. The reliability and long lifetime of projects now...

Wind Tunnels

Dr. Robert Kilgore The development of the cryogenic wind tunnel is one of many significant breakthroughs in both cryogenics and wind-tunnel technology made during the past millennium. Interest in the development of high-speed commercial and military aircraft resulted in a review of problems of flow simulation in transonic wind tunnels...

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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