As discussed in the preceding article, direct-drive inertial confinement fusion targets require a cryogenically cooled spherical shell in which the DT fuel is condensed in a uniform layer on the inner wall. Optical interferometry is the predominant technique used to characterize the thickness and uniformity of the cryogenic fuel layer. In addition to inherent optical limitations such as spheric...

Natural gas is processed to control purity and bring it to sales standard. A part of this processing involves the removal of N2 and CO2 which may exist in large quantities in the gas. These impurities are often removed using Cryogenic Pressure Swing Adsorption (CPSA). PSA uses pressure changes to maximise the efficiency of adsorption and desorption. A fundamental mathematical model was develope...

The aim of this work is to analyse the cryogenic process for cooling superconducting radio-frequency accelerator prototype cavities in the Large Electron-Positron collider (LEP) at CERN. A liquefaction cryoplant is analysed, including the production of liquid helium at 4.5 K, the systems for distribution and control of liquid helium, and the radio-frequency system used for accelerating particle...

The Low Energy Neutron Source (LENS) at Indiana University uses a novel design for a neutron source that is suitable for operation on a university or industrial scale. The source is based on (p,nx) reactions in Be and it will operate in a long-pulse mode with a cryogenic moderator optimized for long-wavelength performance. It is being constructed to fulfill a three-fold mission of conducting ma...

Remarkable tensile ductility was first obtained in an in-situ Ti-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) composite at cryogenic temperature (77 K). The novel cryogenic tensile plasticity is related to the effective accommodation of ductile body-centered cubic dendrites at 77 K, characteristic of the prevailing slip bands and dislocations, as well as lattice disorder, which can effectively hinder the pr...

Most macromolecular X-ray structures are determined from cryocooled crystals, but it is unclear whether cryocooling distorts functionally relevant flexibility. Here we compare independently acquired pairs of high-resolution data sets of a model Michaelis complex of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), collected by separate groups at both room and cryogenic temperatures. These data sets allow us to i...

Pressure generation at cryogenic temperatures presents a problem for a wide array of experimental techniques, particularly neutron studies due to the volume of sample required. We present a novel, compact pressure cell with a large sample volume in which load is generated by a bellow. Using a supply of helium gas up to a pressure of 350 bar, a load of up to 78 kN is generated with leak-free ope...

We present two simple cryogenic rf ion trap systems in which cryogenic temperatures and ultra high vacuum pressures can be reached in as little as 12 h. The ion traps are operated either in a liquid helium bath cryostat or in a low vibration closed cycle cryostat. The fast turn around time and availability of buffer gas cooling made the systems ideal for testing surface-electrode ion traps. The...

X-shooter, the first 2nd generation VLT instrument, is a new high-efficiency echelle spectrograph. X-shooter operates at the Cassegrain focus and covers an exceptionally wide spectral range from 300 to 2500 nm in a single exposure, with an intermediate spectral resolving power R~5000. The instrument consists of a central structure and three prism cross­ dispersed echelle spectrographs optimized...