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Dark Energy Survey Publicly Releases Data Trove

Scientists on the Dark Energy Survey publicly released data from the project's first three years during a special session held at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington DC. The release includes information on about 400 million astronomical objects, from distant galaxies billions of light-years away to stars in our...

Separate Research Teams Advance Quantum Simulators

Researchers at the Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms and at the Joint Quantum Institute at the University of Maryland have announced complementary advances in quantum studies that constitute a major step towards the realization of large-scale quantum machines.

ITER Passes 50 Percent Marker on Journey to First Plasma

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a project to prove that fusion power is both sustainable and producible on a commercial scale, reached a major milestone at the end of 2017 when construction work towards “First Plasma” passed 50 percent.

MSU Establishes Cryogenic Initiative at FRIB

The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) should garner a lot of attention in 2022 when it first delivers the intense beams that scientists will use to study everything from nuclear astrophysics to fundamental interactions and applications for society including in medicine, homeland security and industry. But the facility is...

Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source Unravels Mummy, Leaves Linens Untouched

Northwestern University scientists and students are working to unravel the mysteries of a small female mummy, including how her body was prepared 1,900 years ago in Egypt, what items she may have been buried with, the quality of her bones and the composition of a foreign material present in her...

Niowave’s Electron Linacs Target New Projects

From the quaint neighborhood streets that run alongside its perimeter, Niowave, Inc. appears as unassuming as the converted local elementary school from which it operates. But inside, where water fountains and toilets still perch low to the ground and footsteps echo off hallway lockers, its employees have assumed the once...

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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...

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...