Breakthrough product will bring ultra low temperature measurement capability to a new generation of research scientists requiring reliable, user friendly, milliKelvin measurement techniques
Oxford Instruments and Quantum Design have launched a jointly developed compact dilution refrigerator.
This advance has been possible through a collaboration which has successfully fused the product development talent of the two companies to provide a technically advanced and user friendly ultra low temperature measurement system.
The model P850 dilution refrigerator system is a novel, continuously circulating 3He/4He-refrigerator system for Quantum Design's popular Physical property measurement system (PPMS).
This fully automated, valveless dilution refrigerator installs easily into the sample space of the PPMS to extend the minimum experimental temperature to 50milliKelvin (mK).
The DR option can be ordered with new systems or as an upgrade to existing systems.
In this initial introduction, the DR will provide lower temperatures for heat capacity measurements performed on the PPMS.
The P850 dilution refrigerator system is a new concept in refrigeration design developed in cooperation with Oxford Instruments.
The valveless control is achieved by utilising a specially designed turbo pumping system.
The turbo pump and its controller function together as a virtual gate valve.
Varying the speed of the turbo pump controls the circulation rate of the gas mixture.
This technique also accommodates changes in the helium vapour pressure in the pumping lines.
To simplify operation, the system comes from the factory as a sealed unit ready to use without the need for any assembly or the connection of any pumping line.
The system is incorporated into a cart that can be rolled out of the way when not in use, enabling safe storage of the cryogenic probe.
When needed, only electrical cable connections are required to make the system active.
Sample mounting has been simplified by providing plug-in sample mounts.
Once a sample is mounted on these easy-to-handle platforms, it is plugged into the receptacle on the mixing chamber of the refrigerator.
Since the dilution refrigerator is inserted directly into the sealed sample chamber of the PPMS, there are no additional vacuum seals or electrical contacts to make to the probe.
This makes the entire process of mounting samples very fast, convenient, and user-friendly.
Combined with the P650 heat capacity measurement system, the PPMS dilution refrigerator system can extend the low temperature end of this measurement to 50mK.
This allows users to make fully automated heat capacity measurements from 50mK to 4K.
This breakthrough product will bring ultra low temperature measurement capability to a new generation of research scientists requiring reliable, user friendly, mK measurement techniques.
Quantum Design has already received orders for the new DR system, with the first units going to customers in the USA and China later this year.
Oxford Instruments is aggressively ramping up production of this new measurement system to meet the anticipated demand.
