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Canadian-built Laser Chills Antimatter to Near Absolute Zero for First Time

On March 30, the CERN-based ALPHA (Anti-hydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus) collaboration, including team members from TRIUMF, announced the world’s first laser-based manipulation of antimatter, leveraging a made-in-Canada laser system to cool a sample of antimatter down to near absolute zero significantly altering the  landscape of antimatter research and advance the next...

Montana Instruments Introduces CryoCore™ for High-Throughput Electrical and Optical Materials Characterization

This April, Montana Instruments Corporation, a manufacturer of high precision, fully automated closed-cycle optical cryostats, introduced CryoCore™, a new streamlined cryogenic platform built for high-throughput electrical and optical materials characterization. Using advancements in thermal and low vibration design, the cryostat is a low vibration, cryogen-free system that allows users to...

New Combination of Materials Provides Progress Toward Quantum Computing

In research published June 14 in Nature Communications, engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrated how, when semiconductor materials known as the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) materials they make are stacked in a particular geometry, the interaction that occurs between particles gives researchers more control over the devices’ properties. Specifically, the...

Refrigeration Breakthrough Takes Chinese Quantum Science Near Absolute Zero

China has achieved a breakthrough in self-developed refrigeration equipment – a high-end scientific device that can provide an environment of near absolute zero without using liquid helium. The device lasts longer and is more convenient to use and maintain, compared with traditional cooling machines that use cryogens. The device was...

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Regenerators

Regenerators or regenerative heat exchangers are a key component of cryocoolers such as pulse tube cryocoolers (Cold Facts, August 2014). Regenerator performance greatly affects the coefficient of performance of cryocoolers. Improvements in regenerator design and, in particular, regenerator materials have been an important factor in the improvement of the performance...

Pulse Tube Cryocoolers

The development of pulse tube cryocoolers has been a significant topic of research and development over the past 20 or so years. Pulse tube cryocoolers have a number of advantages over other types of cryocoolers and are now available commercially. In order to understand pulse tube cryocoolers, it’s best to...

Thermal Expansion

Thermal expansion refers to the change in size (length or volume) that a material undergoes as its temperature changes. In cryogenic systems this effect can be quite large and must be allowed for in the design. In isotropic materials, which include most engineering materials, the thermal expansion is the same...

Air Separation and Liquefaction

by Nils Tellier, PE, President, EPSIM Corporation (CSA CSM) nils@epsim.us All illustrations courtesy EPSIM Corporation Background History of Air Separation and Liquefaction This section builds on a rich history of methods to develop deep refrigeration and cryogenic liquefaction during the 19th Century. You are encouraged to read Cryo Central’s History...

Bose-Einstein Condensate

A Bose-Einstein condensate, first proposed in 1925 by Albert Einstein based on work done by Satyendra Nath Bose (the same Bose from whom the term boson is derived), is a super-cold state of matter in which almost all of the individual atoms have “condensed” down to the lowest possible quantum...

Cold Technology for Pest Control

While it does not reach temperatures cold enough to be called cryogenic, carbon dioxide snow is at the heart of a new way of dealing with unwanted pests. It utilizes a quick freezing process that takes advantage of the properties of carbon dioxide snow and has a number of benefits...

Cryogenic Finishing

The following 3 articles discuss the uses and procedures of various type of cryogenic finishing. 1) By Robin A. Rhodes, Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Cryogenic Deflashing is employed to remove undesired residual mold flash that remains on molded parts after they are removed or ejected from the...

Could an Amateur Construct a Liquid Air Plant?

I am a newly retired experimental physicist. Is it feasible for an “amateur” to construct a liquid air plant? Do you have detailed descriptions of older (presumably simpler) liquid air plants, or references that might be of assistance?