Physics & Astronomy Faculty and Staff Publications
Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
6-2011
Abstract
It is well known that extraordinary levels of vibration isolation from the noise of mechanical cryocoolers can be obtained in small cryostats using 1-atm helium exchange gas combined with a soft bellows. This technique has been used successfully by others in a number of small, special-purpose research and commercial cryostats, enabling, for example, Mossbauer spectroscopy below 5K with a GiffordMcMahon cooler. Our group has an ongoing project to implement this technique in a general-purpose research cryostat, with the long-term goal of achieving vibration performance comparable to the best vibration-isolated helium bath cryostats while maintaining adequate 4K working volume, cooling power, and base temperature. In this report we describe the design, thermal performance, and some operational details of a cryostat incorporating a compact exchange-gas envelope and heat exchangers constructed around a Cryomech PT405 0.5W/4.2K pulse-tube cryocooler. This cryostat is in regular use in our lab and performs well, cooling a large shielded 4K working volume (~35 L) containing a heavy iron-shielded superconducting magnet (total metal at 4K ~20 kg) from room temperature to 4K in about 24 hours, achieving base temperatures(condensing the helium), and maintaining temperature ≤4.8K for an externally-applied heat load of 0.5W.
Publication Title
Cryogenic Engineering Conference & International Cryogenic Materials Conference
DOI
10.25827/KQE3-XK40
Language (ISO)
English
Recommended Citation
Jaeckel, F. T., Pregenzer-Wenzler, A. V., & Boyd, S. T. P. (2011). An exchange-gas vibration Isolation system for a general-purpose 4K research cryostat. University of New Mexico. https://doi.org/10.25827/KQE3-XK40
