Cold Snap

17 Mar 2023

Join our cryogenics team on a video journey as they venture into one of the coldest systems in the universe - a dilution refrigerator. For the first time ever, using our IMAT beamline, they snap a glimpse of the mysterious physics behind its operation, with a little help from some LEGO friends

Picture of dilution refrigerator

Picture of dilution refrigerator

The video is made by Hamster Productions. To read more about the paper, see our science highlight, which was written at the time. In 2022, the paper was the third most downloaded physics paper in Scientific Reports.

Other Science highlights from this beamline

Two Indonesian men smiling at the camera

Studying Indonesian peat as it smoulders

Two researchers leaning over a long foil-wrapped sample standing vertically in a steel clamp

Correlative imaging aids conservation of archaeological bones

Photograph of one of the imaged fertiliser pellets, the NCT experimental setup, and horizontal (green) and vertical (blue) cross-sections taken from NCT and XCT reconstructions of the pellet showing detailed internal structure of the pellet’s constituents.

Using large-scale facilities to study novel fertilisers

Professor Nandy Putra, Priska Alfatri and Andhy M. Fathoni from the Applied Heat Transfer Research Group (AHTRG), University of Indonesia on IMAT for their experiment.

Indonesian team use neutrons to reveal the hidden behaviours inside a complex cooling system

Wavelength-resolved neutron imaging maps operando state-of-charge in commercial batteries.

Imaging a commercial battery cell during operation

Alex Rodzinka examining one of the swords on INES.

Confiscated Iron Age Iranian swords proven to be pastiches with advanced scanning technique

First Neutron-Based analysis of Ancient Chinese Arrowheads

Picture of Vittoria Alata

Neutrons reveal new insights about the alloys and metallurgy of The Vittoria Alata

Selected difference frames of the catalyst bed for a sample displaying the advancement of an H2 adsorption front

Neutron imaging offers a view of catalysis in real-time

Left: A drawing of the inside of the TS1 hydrogen moderator. Right: a photo of the moderator being imaged on IMAT

Looking inside the TS1 hydrogen moderator

Picture of dilution refrigerator

dilution fridges

Looking inside a fridge that cools to ultra-low temperatures

Imran Rahman loading the ammonite onto IMAT

Neutron imaging reveals never-before-seen 3D muscle structure in rare Jurassic ammonite fossil

Picture of soil

Unlocking the secrets of soil through time-of-flight neutron imaging and X-ray techniques

A square with a hole in, with the hole labelled as a coolant pipe and interlayer surrounding.

Quality control method for fusion component design

Figure 1: Time resolved horizontal orthogonal slices of the LS 14250 cell discharged with 8 mA visualising the lithium diffusion from the lithium metal electrode in the liquid SOCl2 cathode.

Investigating battery performance and lifetime at IMAT