Vibration-free cryostat for low-noise applications of a pulse tube cryocooler
19 Sep 2006-Review of Scientific Instruments (American Institute of Physics)-Vol. 77, Iss: 9, pp 095102
TL;DR: In this article, a vibration-free cryostat equipped with soft mechanical links was developed to attenuate the transmission of cold finger vibration whose amplitude is attenuated by more than two orders of magnitude by means of an active system.
Abstract: A new generation of gravitational wave interferometers is under study with the main goal to significantly improve the sensitivity of the detectors presently taking data. Two of the dominant noises which limit the present sensitivity of the interferometers are the thermal noise of the suspended optics and the thermal lensing process. At low temperature it is possible to reduce both these effects. Pulse tube cryocooler technology is a quite promising in this field, but it vibrates and it implies a mechanical link between the cooling element (cold finger) and the thermal load. We developed a vibration-free cryostat equipped with soft mechanical links to attenuate the transmission of cold finger vibration whose amplitude is attenuated by more than two orders of magnitude by means of an active system.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review the latest achievements of cryogenic particle detectors for direct detection searches for dark matter and double-decay, as well as for CMB measurements, and discuss expected improvements aiming to increase the sensitivities of these experiments.
Abstract: In the last decade, cryogenic bolometers have provided increasingly improved resolution and sensitivity in particle and radiation detectors. Thermal particle detectors have proven their outstanding capabilities in different fields of fundamental physics, especially in rare event detection. Cryogenic incoherent detector arrays designed to detect millimeter-wave photons have helped enable precision measurements of anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), providing a unique probe of early universe physics and helping to constrain parameters of particle physics such as the sum of the neutrino masses. We review the latest achievements of cryogenic particle detectors for direct detection searches for dark matter and double- decay, as well as for CMB measurements, and we discuss expected improvements aiming to increase the sensitivities of these experiments. An important challenge is the large-scale implementation of arrays of detectors such as transition edge sensors, especially in CMB polarizatio...
85 citations
TL;DR: The design, the breadboarding, and the validation of an ultrastable cryogenic sapphire oscillator operated in an autonomous cryocooler are reported, representing the lowest fractional frequency instability ever achieved with cryocools.
Abstract: This article reports the design, the breadboarding, and the validation of an ultrastable cryogenic sapphire oscillator operated in an autonomous cryocooler. The objective of this project was to demonstrate the feasibility of a frequency stability of 3×10−15 between 1 and 1000 s for the European Space Agency deep space stations. This represents the lowest fractional frequency instability ever achieved with cryocoolers. The preliminary results presented in this paper validate the design we adopted for the sapphire resonator, the cold source, and the oscillator loop.
58 citations
TL;DR: The design and implementation of a mechanical low-pass filter vibration isolation used to reduce the vibrational noise in a cryogen-free dilution refrigerator operated at 10 mK, intended for scanning probe techniques is presented.
Abstract: We present the design and implementation of a mechanical low-pass filter vibration isolation used to reduce the vibrational noise in a cryogen-free dilution refrigerator operated at 10 mK, intended for scanning probe techniques. We discuss the design guidelines necessary to meet the competing requirements of having a low mechanical stiffness in combination with a high thermal conductance. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by measuring the vibrational noise levels of an ultrasoft mechanical resonator positioned above a superconducting quantum interference device. Starting from a cryostat base temperature of 8 mK, the vibration isolation can be cooled to 10.5 mK, with a cooling power of 113 µW at 100 mK. We use the low vibrations and low temperature to demonstrate an effective cantilever temperature of less than 20 mK. This results in a force sensitivity of less than 500 zN/Hz and an integrated frequency noise as low as 0.4 mHz in a 1 Hz measurement bandwidth.
39 citations
21 Jun 2017-Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section A-accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of various damping solutions utilized on three different commercial dry-dilution refrigerators (DDRs) were examined in the low and high frequency regions.
Abstract: Dry Dilution Refrigerators (DDR) based on pulse tube cryo-coolers have started to replace Wet Dilution Refrigerators (WDR) due to the ease and low cost of operation. However these advantages come at the cost of increased vibrations, induced by the pulse tube. In this work, we present the vibration measurements performed on three different commercial DDRs. We describe in detail the vibration measurement system we assembled, based on commercial accelerometers, conditioner and DAQ, and examined the effects of the various damping solutions utilized on three different DDRs, both in the low and high frequency regions. Finally, we ran low temperature, pseudo-massive (30 and 250 g) germanium bolometers in the best vibration-performing system under study and report on the results.
38 citations
Cites background from "Vibration-free cryostat for low-noi..."
...However, pulse tubes induce vibrations which are so far the most serious drawback of this technology [1, 2]....
[...]
TL;DR: In this article, a gate-defined quantum dot was used for scanning gate microscopy with root-mean-square vibrations of 0.8 nm at 3 K and 2.1 nm at 15 mK in a 1 kHz bandwidth.
Abstract: We report on our design of a scanning gate microscope housed in a cryogen-free dilution refrigerator with a base temperature of 15 mK. The recent increase in efficiency of pulse tube cryocoolers has made cryogen-free systems popular in recent years. However, this new style of cryostat presents challenges for performing scanning probe measurements, mainly as a result of the vibrations introduced by the cryocooler. We demonstrate scanning with root-mean-square vibrations of 0.8 nm at 3 K and 2.1 nm at 15 mK in a 1 kHz bandwidth with our design. Using Coulomb blockade thermometry on a GaAs/AlGaAs gate-defined quantum dot, we demonstrate an electron temperature of 45 mK.
37 citations
References
More filters
21 Jan 2004-Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section A-accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment
TL;DR: For 17 days in August and September 2002, the LIGO and GEO interferometer gravitational wave detectors were operated in coincidence to produce their first data for scientific analysis.
Abstract: For 17 days in August and September 2002, the LIGO and GEO interferometer gravitational wave detectors were operated in coincidence to produce their first data for scientific analysis. Although the detectors were still far from their design sensitivity levels, the data can be used to place better upper limits on the flux of gravitational waves incident on the earth than previous direct measurements. This paper describes the instruments and the data in some detail, as a companion to analysis papers based on the first data.
268 citations
TL;DR: Both procedures showed performance limits to be functions of the square root of the flux density coupled into the target-illuminating fiber(s) by the electroluminescent source.
Abstract: Intrinsic performance limits of noncontacting fiber lever displacement measuring systems are quantitatively described. Generalized relationships linking displacement detection limit, frequency response, dynamic range, linearity, and working distance to fiber diameter, illumination irradiance and coupling angle, photo-detector characteristics, and reflection and transmission losses were obtained by analysis and confirmed by measurement. Both procedures showed performance limits to be functions of the square root of the flux density coupled into the target-illuminating fiber(s) by the electroluminescent source. Displacement detection and bandwidth limits achievable with tungsten or LED sources were in the 2 × 10−11 to 2×10-12m/Hz and MHz, range respectively. A basis for optimizing levers for different applications and determination of intrinsic performance limits is provided.
188 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors give an overview of the detector commissioning and the detector characterization work of the GEO 600 for the period between March 2005 and February 2006, which is the first detector using advanced technologies such as dual recycling.
Abstract: The GEO 600 gravitational wave detector located near Hannover in Germany is part of an international network of gravitational wave observatories. As more and more of these detectors approach their final configuration, the focus is shifted from commissioning to detector characterization. At the moment, GEO 600, the first detector using advanced technologies such as dual recycling, is preparing for a long data-taking period starting at the beginning of summer 2006. In this paper, we give an overview of detector commissioning and the detector characterization work of GEO 600 for the period between March 2005 and February 2006.
123 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an experimental upper limit of the mirror residual seismic noise at a few Hertz is provided, which is lower than the thermal noise floor, expected to limit the antenna sensitivity in the low frequency range.
90 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the vibrations of the cold-stage and cold-head of a Gifford-McMahon (GM) and pulse-tube (PT) cryocoolers were measured separately to investigate their vibration mechanisms.
86 citations