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New Bolometer Could Lead to Better Cryogenic Quantum Technologies

A new type of bolometer that covers a broad range of microwave frequencies has been created by researchers in Finland. The work builds on previous research by the team, and the new technique could potentially characterize background noise sources and thereby help to improve the cryogenic environments necessary for quantum...

Air Gases Can Benefit the Environment

Overview-The commercial production of oxygen and nitrogen supported the industrial revolution in the late 19th century and up to the mid-20th. Oxy-acetylene cutting and welding were important for projects like the Eiffel Tower, the Panama Canal and the Central Valley Project Corporation hydropower plants. Oxygen, nitrogen and argon refined steelmaking...

Analyzing Transcritical CO2 Compression and Pumping Pathways

Supercritical carbon dioxide exhibits anomalous behavior in the vicinity above the critical point. The Irish physical chemist Thomas Andrews (1863) was the first who studied the supercritical behavior of carbon dioxide. He explained his observations of the fluid state above the critical point as follows: “…the surface of demarcation between the...

AVCO Sets its Sights on Mars

“You’re Going to The Moon” should now be quoted as “You’re Going to Mars.” From the 1990s downturn in the aerospace industry to today’s exponential growth, the demand for precision flow control and flow measurement has continued to follow the same growth trajectory. The focus of Alloy Valves and Control...

CCAT Observatory Approaches First Light

For the past six years, CCAT Observatory Inc., a nonprofit research organization formed by more than a dozen academic institutions led by Cornell University, has been developing a new telescope, the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST, pronounced “feast”) and its supporting infrastructure to observe at submillimeter wavelengths. The infrastructure is...

Goddard Goings: Insight Into Its Past, Present and Future

James Webb Space Telescope-“I’m Back in the Saddle Again!” – It’s likely anyone reading this article has heard about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The telescope launched on December 25, 2021 (EST) with much fanfare. Over the next month, it traveled to its observation location at the L2 Lagrange...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Dilution Refrigerators

Dilution refrigerators are a common technique for reaching temperatures below 1K, particularly where continuous cooling at these temperatures is required. Helium exists in two stable isotopes: 4He and 3He. Naturally occurring 3He is extremely rare, constituting less than 1 part per million of helium gas. However, 3He can be manufactured,...

Oxygen Deficiency Hazards

Oxygen Deficiency Hazards (ODH) are a significant safety issue in cryogenic facilities. ODH occurs when inert gases such as nitrogen, helium or argon displace room air and thus lower the percentage of oxygen in the space below that required for human life. OSHA defines an area as oxygen deficient if...

Kelvin Temperature Scale

The Kelvin temperature scale is the principal temperature scale used in cryogenics and science. The kelvin is also one of the seven base units in the Système International d’Unités (SI) and is the unit of thermodynamic temperature. Thermodynamic temperature is a fundamental physical quantity (like mass, length or electrical current)...

Latest in Cryo Central

Cryogenic Electronics

Randall Kirschman, consulting physicist, Mountain View, California ExtElect@gmail.com Cryogenic electronics—the operation of electronic devices, circuits, and systems at cryogenic temperatures—has been a valuable technology for decades. Cryogenic electronics (also referred to as low-temperature electronics, or cold electronics) can be based on semiconductive devices, on superconductive devices, or on a combination...

Particle Physics: High Energy Physics

Cryogenics and High-Energy Physics 1. From symmetry magazine: http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/cms/?pid=1000627: Cryogenics is the study of how materials behave at temperatures near absolute zero. In high-energy particle accelerators, such frigid temperatures reduce the electrical resistance of wires in superconducting magnets, increasing the magnet strength and allowing faster particle acceleration. The same holds...

HTS Degaussing Systems

From the Spring 2009 issue of Cold Facts (Volume 25, Number 2): Thanks to a joint project by the US Navy and a number of industry partners, high temperature superconducting (HTS) technology is now at the heart of an advanced degaussing system aboard the USS Higgins at the naval station...

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

From http://www.superconductors.org: An area where superconductors can perform a life-saving function is in the field of biomagnetism. Doctors need a non-invasive means of determining what’s going on inside the human body. By impinging a strong superconductor-derived magnetic field into the body, hydrogen atoms that exist in the body’s water 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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