Cold Facts Digital – The go-to place for Cryogenics and Superconductivity

zeroBOG™ Empowers Sustainable Operations

by Lennis Perez and Edward Tay, Sulzer The need for efficient and sustainable management of cryogenic gases extends far beyond traditional LNG applications. Enabling the recovery and reuse of boiloff gases, or BOG, across sectors such as hydrogen, e-methane and ammonia, supports the transition to low-carbon fuels and helps operators...

Liquid Air Comes of Age in Manchester

by Mark Vyvyan Robinson, Business Development Director, Highview Power As electricity systems integrate increasing volumes of renewable generation, the requirement for long-duration energy storage has become a defining challenge of the global energy transition. In northwest England, the city of Manchester and the surrounding Greater Manchester region are now home...

NASA Inches Closer to Martian Laser Communication

by Charlie Danaher, Danaher Cryogenics Bridging Interplanetary Distances Having a conversation between someone on Earth and Mars is not as science fiction as it used to be. That is thanks to scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California and their successful demonstration of the Deep Space Optical...

Vacuum Chambers Answer Quantum Demands and UHV Transfer Needs

by Mel Janecka, Atlas Technologies Quantum computing companies and research facilities often find aluminum and titanium vacuum chambers to be better equipped to maintain purity and ultrahigh-vacuum (UHV) status. Plus, the chambers are non-magnetic and perform effectively within cryogenic conditions, critical for keeping qubits stable. Qubits, the basic units of...

Kathleen Amm’s Evolution in Cryo

When Kathleen Amm describes how she entered cryogenics, she does not point to a single defining moment. Instead, her path began with movement. In the early 1990s, she followed her thesis advisor Justin Schwartz from the University of Illinois to Tallahassee as the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory was opening....

WOMEN in CRYOGENICS and SUPERCONDUCTIVITY

Alexandria Burger, Bluefors – Manufacturing Engineer Manager Current projects: My current focus is leading a team to improve manufacturing efficiencies for 2026. These efficiency improvements will not only offset the increasing costs of materials but also allow us to reduce lead times. I also contribute to manufacturing documentation, 6S events,...

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

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...

Latest in Ask the Experts

What is the temperature range of cryogenics?

Could you please tell me what is the temperature range of cryogenics? In other words, is -100°F considered cryogenic, or does it start lower? Could I expect to see some extended life in D2 stamping dies? What would the recipe be to achieve the desired results using cryogenics?