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Stanford Finds Crystal That Could Revolutionize Quantum Tech

Superconductivity and quantum computing have rapidly evolved from theoretical frontiers to real-world technologies. The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics recognized breakthroughs in superconducting quantum circuits that promise ultra-powerful computing systems. Yet these technologies demand cryogenic operating conditions, near absolute zero, where most materials lose their useful properties. Identifying materials that...

VALCOR ENGINEERING ADDS NEW VIBRATION LABORATORY

Valcor Engineering Corporation, a longtime designer and manufacturer of precision fluid and motion control components—including cryogenic solenoid valves—has expanded its in-house testing resources with the addition of a new Vibration Laboratory at its Springfield, New Jersey headquarters. The new facility provides full 3-axis (X, Y, Z) vibration testing, including sine...

Delta Reliably Meets the Need for Cryogenic Pipe Shoes in the LNG Space

As the LNG industry has grown, so has the number of suppliers who serve that market. No one knows that better, perhaps, than Delta Machine & Ironworks. The Baton Rouge-based fabricator is rapidly becoming the “go to” supplier of one of the most indisputably vital support products on LNG jobsites. Over...
‘Much-loved’ UW collaborator John Clarke wins the Nobel Prize in Physics

‘Much-loved’ UW collaborator John Clarke wins the Nobel Prize in Physics

  The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis, “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in an electric circuit.” Clarke, a professor emeritus of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, collaborates with the Axion Dark...

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Mixed Refrigerant Cycles

Most cryogenic refrigeration systems, both large scale systems and cryocoolers, use helium as a working fluid. There are a number of advantages to helium, not the least of which is that helium remains a fluid down to the lowest achievable temperatures. In order to freeze helium, pressures of over 20...

Fountain Pumps and He II Phase Separators

Helium II (He II), the second liquid phase of the 4He isotope described in this column in Cold Facts Spring 2010 (http://2csa.us/he2), can be modeled as consisting of two interpenetrating fluids. One, the superfluid component, has zero viscosity and entropy and the other, the normal fluid component, has nonzero viscosity...

Turboexpanders

A vital technology in the refrigerators and liquefiers described in Cold Facts Volume 31 Number 3 is that of turboexpanders. These devices are rotating machines in which the process fluid (e.g., helium) does work against the turboexpander while moving from high pressure to a lower pressure and thus is cooled....

Magnets

From “Superconductivity: Present and Future Applications” by the Coalition for the Commercial Application of Superconductors. Particle physics uses accelerators to recreate the conditions of the early universe in an attempt to piece together the complex puzzle of how we got to where we are today. These huge machines are used...

Energy Storage

From “Superconductivity: Present and Future Applications” by the Coalition for the Commercial Application of Superconductors. With power lines increasingly congested and prone to instability, strategic injection of brief bursts of real power can play a crucial role in maintaining grid reliability. Small-scale Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) systems, based on...

Astronomy

ASTRONOMY IN SPACE by Peter V. Mason, retired,  Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Visiting Associate, California Institute of Technology. Pmason@alumni.caltech.edu In thinking about the reasons to perform astronomy in space, we first consider the effect of the earth’s atmosphere.  On a scale of decreasing energy, gamma rays, cosmic rays, X-rays and...

Cryocoolers

What is a Cryocooler? A mechanism that can extract heat from an object (cooler) and by doing so draw its temperature down below approximately 150 Kelvin (cryo). — (Courtesy Dr. Willy Gully) What is the difference between a Cryocooler and a Cryostat? A cryostat is any device designed to maintain...

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...