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China Sets World Record With 35.1-Tesla Superconducting Magnet, Advancing Fusion and Energy Research

This photo, taken on Sept. 28, 2025, shows the superconducting magnet developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Plasma Physics (ASIPP) in Hefei. Credit: Xinhua/Wu Huijun by Chen Na, Chinese Academy of Sciences The race to generate stronger, more stable magnetic fields has become a cornerstone of modern...

Figure 1: Electron Ion Collider. Credit: Brookhaven

Brookhaven Expands Cryogenic Capabilities for the Electron-Ion Collider Project

by Chintan Sheth, Mechanical Engineer, PMP, Brookhaven National Laboratory The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has been running successfully since the year 2000 at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). 2025 will be RHIC’s final run, and the facility will be decommissioned after the run ends...

ALLVAR Alloys Solve Cryogenic Mismatch

ALLVAR Alloy 30 expands when cooled, the opposite of invar and aluminum, and maintains negative thermal properties at cryogenic temperatures. Credit: Allvar by James A. Monroe, Ph.D., ALLVAR Almost all materials expand when heated and contract when cooled, known as positive thermal expansion. Some materials expand and contract a lot...

IceCure Receives Notice of Patent Allowance in China for a Novel Cryogen Flow Control to Optimize Patient Cryoablation Outcomes

IceCure Medical Ltd., developer of minimally invasive cryoablation technology that destroys tumors by freezing them, announced that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) for a new patent titled “Cryogen Flow Control.” The patent relates to IceCure’s next-generation XSense™ cryoablation system and...

Professor Stefanie Gutschmidt, Head of UC’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, and UC Principal Researcher Dr Alan Caughley run the cyrocooler technology in the new CryoLab. Credit: UC Canterberry

UC Launches New Lab to Advance Cryogenics Research

University of Canterbury News The University of Canterbury (UC) has launched a new lab dedicated to cryogenics research and consultancy. CryoLab is now Aotearoa New Zealand’s only cryogenics research group combining advanced cryogenic refrigeration research with consulting to industry in cryogenics, fluid mechanics, and thermodynamics. Cryogenics is the science of...

Quantum Design Acquires Oxford NanoScience, Joining Two Historic Cryogenic Companies

Quantum Design (QD) is pleased to announce the completion of the acquisition of the Oxford NanoScience division of Oxford Instruments. This acquisition unites two industry leaders with a combined legacy of more than 100 years of experience and innovation in cryogenics, materials science, and microscopy. The expanded, shared product catalog...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigeration

Reaching temperatures below 1K requires different techniques than the various helium gas cycles found in large scale refrigeration plants and small cryocoolers. One of these techniques is Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigeration (ADR). This technique takes advantage of the fact that the entropy of paramagnetic materials in a magnetic field is lower than...

Cryogen-Free

A cryogen is any fluid that operates at cryogenic temperatures (below roughly 150K – 120K). Using this definition, helium gas at 40K is a cryogen. Another more restrictive definition is to use cryogen to refer specifically to liquids at cryogenic temperatures. This is generally how it is used in the...

Cryostats and Cryocoolers

A cryostat is any device designed to maintain things (including fluids) at cryogenic temperatures. In general usage, cryostats tend to be passive devices rather than providing active cooling. In this usage, cryostats keep things cold by thermally isolating them from room temperature. This generally is accomplished by a combination of...

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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