Cold Facts Digital – Page 63 – The go-to place for Cryogenics and Superconductivity

“Bad Metal” Reveals Clues to High-Temperature Superconductivity

A research collaboration based at Stony Brook University has found that “stripes” of electronic charge, which may play a key role in superconductivity, persist across surprisingly high temperatures, shape conductivity and have direction-dependent properties. The findings—published in Physical Review Letters—came as the group studied metals that conduct electricity poorly, looking...

NIST Hybrid Cooler Hits 2 Kelvin

NIST scientists have devised a novel hybrid system for cooling superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPD). It uses a pulse-tube refrigerator cooled to 10 K to precool a Joule-Thomson cryocooler that can then reach 2 K. That level of cooling has typically been achieved with liquid helium systems that are costly,...

Beam Delivered to Muon g-2, First Results Expected Later this Year

Accelerators at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (CSA CSM) have delivered beam to the Muon g-2 experiment for the first time, kicking off a three-year effort to measure what happens to those particles when placed in a precise magnetic field. The answer could rewrite scientists’ picture of the universe and...

NY Allocates $15 Million for Brookhaven Cryo-Electron Microscope

The Brookhaven National Laboratory has announced a $15 million allocation from New York State to fund a cryo-electron microscope at the Long Island Facility for Electron Microscopy, a new facility on its campus. The microscope will operate at 77 K and will provide researchers with a new look at molecular...

Sandwiched Graphene Adopts Andreev States

MIT physicists have found that a flake of graphene, when sandwiched between two superconducting materials, can inherit some of those materials’ superconducting qualities. The electronic state of the graphene changes dramatically here, even at its center, as the particles pair up in Andreev states—a fundamental electronic configuration that allows a...

Auguste and Taylor-Wharton Ink New Distribution Deal

Auguste Cryogenics has signed a long-term liquid cylinder distribution agreement with Taylor-Wharton, becoming the exclusive distributor in Europe, Russia and Israel for Taylor-Wharton’s extensive line of gas and liquid withdrawal cylinders.

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Dewar

A dewar is a type of cryostat named after Sir James Dewar, the researcher who first developed the concept of a vacuum insulated container with silvered walls to reflect thermal radiation. Dewar was the first to liquefy hydrogen, and he created the device to store his discovery. The thermos bottle...

Stirling and Gifford-McMahon Cryocoolers

Stirling and Gifford-McMahon (GM) cryocoolers are two of the most commonly used cryocoolers in cryogenics. Both devices have a significant industrial base and operate at a wide range of temperatures and capacities. The thermodynamic cycles for both of these cryocoolers are quite similar. The Stirling cycle consists of a compressor,...

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

A significant commercial application of cryogenics is the liquefaction, transport and storage of natural gas. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is generally 95 percent methane with a few percent ethane and much lower concentrations of propane and butane. LNG liquefies at 111.6 K. Unlike many applications of cryogenics, the motivation for...

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

Power usage: cryogenic systems vs. regular refrigerators

A recent project highlighted to me that closed cycle cryogenic cooling systems use far more electrical power to reduce temperatures by a few watts than regular refrigerators. I am sure it must be something to do with the extra difficulty of removing the heat from the liquid nitrogen or similar...

Redundancy strategies for mechanical -80C freezers

I was wondering what kind of redundancy strategies are people using for their mechanical -80C freezers? I am aware of the following. Please add if you are doing something different. 1) 1 Backup freezer for every 10 freezers – Empty and maintained at -80C at all times 2) Backup C02...

Safety guidelines for handling cryo vessels of nitrogen

I am looking for any safety guidelines for handling cryogenic vessels of nitrogen indoors and outdoors. I am especially interested in recommendations for area monitors to detect leaks, flow detection devices, etc.

Method to move components in a cryogenic environment

Does anyone know of a method with which to reliably move components in a cryogenic environment? We are interested in moving detectors in a cryogenically cooled (2K) vacuum chamber, which is contained within a larger cryostat/isolation vacuum with thermal shields. As the desired horizontal or vertical displacement is between 10...

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