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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2019

3-Stage ADR for the X-Ray Imaging and Spectrometer Mission (XRISM)

Following the loss of the Hitomi x-ray astronomy satellite shortly after its launch in early 2016, the US and Japanese space agencies (NASA and JAXA) agreed to fund a replacement mission, presently called the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM). XRISM will include only the two soft x-ray instruments from Hitomi, the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS), and the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI). The spectrometer instrument, now named Resolve, will be similar to the original SXS design. It consists of a 6 by 6 array of silicon microcalorimeters cooled to 50 millikelvin by means of a 3-stage Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator (ADR) whose operation is supported by a 40 liter superfluid helium tank, a 4.5-degrees-Kelvin Joule-Thomson cryocooler and a number of 2-stage Stirling cryocoolers. These components were all successfully demonstrated on Hitomi before its failure. This talk will summarize the design of the XRISM ADR and how it differs from the SXS version.

ADR (Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator)↗
NASA NTRS2018

ADR Design and Operation for the X-Ray Imaging and Spectrometer Mission (XRISM)

Following the loss of the Hitomi x-ray astronomy satellite 38 days after its launch in early 2016, the US and Japanese space agencies (NASA and JAXA) agreed to fund a replacement mission, presently called XARM. XARM will include only the two soft x-ray instruments from Hitomi, the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS), and the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI). For XARM, the spectrometer instrument named Resolve will be rebuilt to the original SXS design. It consists of a 6x6 array of silicon microcalorimeters cooled to 50 millikelvin by means of a 3-stage adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) whose operation is supported by a 40 liter superfluid helium tank, a 4.5 K Joule-Thomson cryocooler and a number of 2-stage Stirling cryocoolers. These components were all successfully demonstrated on Hitomi before its failure. This talk will summarize the design of the XARM ADR and how it differs from the SXS version, and will briefly summarize on-orbit ADR performance during Hitomi's operational period.

adiabatic demagnetization refrigeration↗
NASA NTRS2011

Improved Design and Fabrication of Hydrated-Salt Pills

A high-performance design, and fabrication and growth processes to implement the design, have been devised for encapsulating a hydrated salt in a container that both protects the salt and provides thermal conductance between the salt and the environment surrounding the container. The unitary salt/container structure is known in the art as a salt pill. In the original application of the present design and processes, the salt is, more specifically, a hydrated paramagnetic salt, for use as a refrigerant in a very-low-temperature adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR). The design and process can also be applied, with modifications, to other hydrated salts. Hydrated paramagnetic salts have long been used in ADRs because they have the desired magnetic properties at low temperatures. They also have some properties, disadvantageous for ADRs, that dictate the kind of enclosures in which they must be housed: Being hydrated, they lose water if exposed to less than 100-percent relative humidity. Because any dehydration compromises their magnetic properties, salts used in ADRs must be sealed in hermetic containers. Because they have relatively poor thermal conductivities in the temperature range of interest (<0.1 K), integral thermal buses are needed as means of efficiently transferring heat to and from the salts during refrigeration cycles. A thermal bus is typically made from a high-thermal-conductivity met al (such as copper or gold), and the salt is configured to make intimate thermal contact with the metal. Commonly in current practice (and in the present design), the thermal bus includes a matrix of wires or rods, and the salt is grown onto this matrix. The density and spacing of the conductors depend on the heat fluxes that must be accommodated during operation.

Shirron, Peter J.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Performance Testing of the Astro-H Flight Model 3-Stage ADR

The Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) is one of four instruments that will be flown on the Japanese Astro-H satellite, planned for launch in late 2015early 2016. The SXS will perform imaging spectroscopy in the soft x-ray band using a 6x6 array of silicon micro calorimeters operated at 50 mK, cooled by an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR). NASAGSFC is providing the detector array and ADR, and Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Inc. is providing the remainder of the cryogenic system (superfluid helium dewar (1.3 K), Stirling cryocoolers and a 4.5 K Joule-Thomson (JT) cryocooler). The ADR is unique in that it is designed to use both the liquid helium and the JT cryocooler as it heat sink. The flight detector and ADR assembly have successfully undergone vibration and performance testing at GSFC, and have now undergone initial performance testing with the flight dewar at Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Inc. in Japan. This presentation summarizes the performance of the flight ADR in both cryogen-based and cryogen-free operating modes.

adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator↗
NASA NTRS2014

Optimization Strategies for Single-Stage, Multi-Stage and Continuous ADRs

Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerators (ADR) have many advantages that are prompting a resurgence in their use in spaceflight and laboratory applications. They are solid-state coolers capable of very high efficiency and very wide operating range. However, their low energy storage density translates to larger mass for a given cooling capacity than is possible with other refrigeration techniques. The interplay between refrigerant mass and other parameters such as magnetic field and heat transfer points in multi-stage ADRs gives rise to a wide parameter space for optimization. This paper first presents optimization strategies for single ADR stages, focusing primarily on obtaining the largest cooling capacity per stage mass, then discusses the optimization of multi-stage and continuous ADRs in the context of the coordinated heat transfer that must occur between stages. The goal for the latter is usually to obtain the largest cooling power per mass or volume, but there can also be many secondary objectives, such as limiting instantaneous heat rejection rates and producing intermediate temperatures for cooling of other instrument components.

sub-kelvin cooling↗
NASA NTRS2015

Operating Modes and Cooling Capabilities of the Flight ADR for the SXS Instrument on Astro-H

The microcalorimeter array on the Soft X-ray Spectrometer instrument on Astro-H requires cooling to 50 mK, which will be accomplished by a 3-stage adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR). The ADR is surrounded by a cryogenic system consisting of a superfluid helium tank, a 4.5 K Joule-Thomson (JT) cryocooler, and additional 2-stage Stirling cryocoolers that pre-cool the JT cooler and radiation shields within the cryostat. The unique ADR design allows the instrument to meet all of its science requirements using either the stored cryogen or the JT cryocooler as its heat sink, giving the instrument an unusual degree of tolerance for component failures or degradation in the cryogenic system. The flight detector assembly, ADR and dewar were integrated in early 2014, and have since been extensively characterized and calibrated. At present, the four instruments are being integrated with the spacecraft in preparation for an early 2016 launch. This presentation summarizes the operation and performance of the ADR in all of its operating modes.

adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator↗
NASA NTRS2024

Superfluid-Tight Cryogenic Receiver With Continuous Sub-Kelvin Cooling for EXCLAIM

The EXperiment for Cryogenic Large-Aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM) is a balloon-borne telescope designed to survey star formation over cosmological time scales using intensity mapping in the 420 – 540 GHz frequency range. EXCLAIM uses a fully cryogenic telescope coupled to six on-chip spectrometers featuring kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) to achieve high sensitivity, allowing for fast integration in dark atmospheric windows. The telescope receiver is cooled to ≈ 1.7 K by immersion in a superfluid helium bath and enclosed in a superfluid-tight shell with a meta-material anti-reflection coated silicon window. In addition to the optics and the spectrometer package, the receiver contains the magnetic shielding, the cryogenic segment of the spectrometer readout, and the sub-Kelvin cooling system. A three-stage continuous adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (CADR) keeps the detectors at 100 mK while a 4He sorption cooler provides a 900 mK thermal intercept for mechanical suspensions and coaxial cables. We present the design of the EXCLAIM receiver and report on the flight-like testing of major receiver components, including the superfluid-tight receiver window and the sub-Kelvin coolers.

continuous adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator↗
NASA NTRS2011

Performance of the Three-Stage ADR that Provides Cooling of the Soft X-Ray Spectrometer Aboard Astro-H

The requirements levied upon the cooling system for the soft X-ray spectrometer (SXS) aboard the Astro-H satellite are demanding: Provide an operating temperature of 0.050 degrees Kelvin for a minimum of 24 hours, recycle in less than 2 hours (less than 1 hour in some cases), produce a dipole moment of less than 10 amperes per square meter at the detector location, and do all this with a mass less than 15 kilograms. This is further complicated by the availability of both a 1.3 degrees Kelvin helium bath and a 4.5 degrees Kelvin JT (Joule-Thomson) cooler to recycle the refrigerator. Here we detail the performance of the adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) built specifically for SXS that is capable of meeting, and often significantly exceeding, the requirements placed upon it.

Kimball, Mark 0.↗
NASA NTRS1993

A two-stage magnetic refrigerator for astronomical applications with reservoir temperatures above 4 K

We propose a novel adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) to produce temperatures as low as 100 mK starting from a high temperature reservoir between 4 and 8 K. The high temperature reservoir for the ADR can be provided by a mechanical cooler or an unpumped liquid helium bath. This refrigerator can be used to cool bolometric infrared detectors for low background astronomy from mountain tops, balloons or satellites as well as to cool cryogenic x-ray detectors. The two-stage ADR consists of a single magnet with a paramagnetic chromic-cesium-alum (CCA) salt pill to produce the low temperature and paramagnetic gadolinium-gallium-garnet (GGG) as the first stage to intercept heat from the high temperature reservoir. Thermal contact between the paramagnets and the reservoir during magnetization is made with a mechanical heat switch. The ADR is suspended with Kevlar chords under tension for high mechanical stiffness and low parasitic heat leak. In a single cycle, the ADR maintains a temperature of 100 mK for 10 to 100 hours. This time depends strongly on the magnetic field and reservoir temperature but not on the volume of the paramagnetic material as long as the heat leak is dominated by the suspension.

Hagmann, C.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Continuous Magnetic Refrigerators for Cooling in the 0.05 to 10 K Range

Low temperature refrigeration is an increasingly vital technology for NASA's Space Science program since most detectors being developed for x-ray, IR and sub-millimeter missions must be cooled to below 100 mK in order to meet the requirements for energy and spatial resolution. For space applications, magnetic refrigeration has an inherent advantage over alternative techniques because it does not depend on gravity. Adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators, or ADRs, are relatively simple, solid state devices. The basic elements are a magnetocaloric refrigerant (usually an encapsulated paramagnetic salt) located in the bore of a superconducting magnet, and a heat switch linking the salt to a heat sink. The alignment of magnetic spins with the magnetic field causes the refrigerant to warm as the magnetic field increases and cool as the field decreases. Thus the simple process of magnetizing the refrigerant to high field with the heat switch closed, then demagnetizing it with the heat switch open allows one to obtain temperatures well below 100 mK using a heat sink as warm as 4.2 K. The refrigerant can maintain a low temperature for a length of time depending on the applied and parasitic heat loads, its mass, and the initial magnetic field strength. Typically ADRs are designed for 12-24 hours of hold time, after which they must be warmed up and recycled.

Shirron, Peter↗
NASA NTRS2003

Continuous Magnetic Refrigerators for Cooling in the 0.05 to 10 K Range: Progress and Future Development

Low temperature refrigeration is an increasingly vital technology for NASA s Space Science program since most detectors being developed for x-ray, IR and sub-millimeter missions must be cooled to below 100 mK in order to meet the requirements for energy and spatial resolution. For space applications, magnetic refrigeration has an inherent advantage over alternative techniques because it does not depend on gravity. Adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators, or ADRs, are relatively simple, solid state devices. The basic elements are a magnetocaloric refrigerant (usually an encapsulated paramagnetic salt) located in the bore of a superconducting magne$, and a heat switch linking the salt to a heat sink. The alignment of magnetic spins with the magnetic field causes the refrigerant to warm as the magnetic field increases and cool as the field decreases. Thus the simple process of magnetizing the refrigerant to high field with the heat switch closed, then demagnetizing it with the heat switch open allows one to obtain temperatures well below 100 mK using a heat sink as warm as 4.2 K. The refrigerant can maintain a low temperature for a length of time depending on the applied and parasitic heat loads, its mass, and the initial magnetic field strength. Typically ADRs are designed for 12-24 hours of hold time, after which they must be warmed up and recycled. The drawback to single-shot ADRs is that the cooling power per unit mass is relatively low. Refrigerants that are suitable for low temperature operation necessarily have low magnetic ion density, and therefore low entropy density. Since ADRs store entropy, systems with even modest cooling powers (a few microwatts) at temperatures below 100 mK tend to be massive, averaging 10-15 kg.

Shirron, Peter↗
NASA NTRS1999

Detector Assembly and the Ultralow-Temperature Refrigerator for XRS

The X-ray spectrometer (XRS) on the Japanese Astro-E Spacecraft is the first ultra low temperature space borne instrument. The system utilizes a 900g Ferric Ammonium Alum (FAA) Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator (ADR) with a helium-3 gas gap heat switch to cool the detector assembly to 0.060K. The system operates in a "single shot" configuration allowing the system to remain at its operating temperature for about 40 hours in the lab. The on-orbit performance is expected to be about 35 hours with a 97% duty cycle. The detector assembly for XRS consists of a 32 channel microcalorimeter array bias electronics, thermometry, and an anti-coincidence detector that are attached to the cold stage of the ADR. To thermally Isolate the detector system from the superfluid helium reservoir, the detector system is suspended by Kevlar cords and electrical connection in made by L30, 17-micron diameter, tensioned NbTi leads. The detectors are read out in a source-follower arrangement using FET amplifiers operating at 130K mounted in multiply-thermally-isolated assemblies that also use Kevlar and stainless steel wiring. The design and thermal performance of this system will be discussed and compared to the theoretical limits.

Porter, F. S.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Hydride absorption refrigerator system for ten Kelvin and below

A very long-life, lightweight and efficient hydride absorption refrigerator system was built to operate at ten Kelvin and below. The system consists of four basic stages of refrigeration. The first stage is accomplished by an active refrigeration system. The second stage is operated by a hydride absorption system, wherein a heated hydride powder drives off high pressure hydrogen through a Joule-Thomson/heat exchanger expansion loop such that the hydrogen is partially liquefied. In the third stage, the vapor pressure over the collected liquid hydrogen is lowered by absorbing the hydrogen vapor onto a different low pressure, worn hydride. With a 1.7 torr partial pressure of hydrogen gas in the hydride, liquid hydrogen is solidified and sublimes at 10 K. Long-life adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators, helium desorption, or helium diaphragm compressors are used to cool to 4 K or below. It is shown that the hydride concepts provide an extremely efficient means of refrigeration to 10 K, and that an entire sorption refrigeration process can be accomplished solely by using low grade heat energy at about 150 C.

Jones, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Operation of an ADR Using Helium Exchange Gas as a Substitute for a Failed Heat Switch

The Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) is one of four instruments on the Japanese Astro-H mission, which is currently planned for launch in late 2015. The SXS will perform imaging spectroscopy in the soft X-ray band (0.3-12 keV) using a 6 6 pixel array of microcalorimeters cooled to 50 mK. The detectors are cooled by a 3-stage adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) that rejects heat to either a superfluid helium tank (at 1.2 K) or to a 4.5 K Joule-Thomson (JT) cryocooler. Four gas-gap heat switches are used in the assembly to manage heat flow between the ADR stages and the heat sinks. The engineering model (EM) ADR was assembled and performance tested at NASA/GSFC in November 2011, and subsequently installed in the EM dewar at Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Japan. During the first cooldown in July 2012, a failure of the heat switch that linked the two colder stages of the ADR to the helium tank was observed. Operation of the ADR requires some mechanism for thermally linking the salt pills to the heat sink, and then thermally isolating them. With the failed heat switch unable to perform this function, an alternate plan was devised which used carefully controlled amounts of exchange gas in the dewar's guard vacuum to facilitate heat exchange. The process was successfully demonstrated in November 2012, allowing the ADR to cool the detectors to 50 mK for hold times in excess of 10 h. This paper describes the exchange-gas-assisted recycling process, and the strategies used to avoid helium contamination of the detectors at low temperature.

Adiabatic demagnetization↗
DOE OSTI2025

The X-ray Integral Field Unit at the end of the Athena reformulation phase

The Athena mission entered a redefinition phase in July 2022, driven by the imperative to reduce the mission cost at completion for the European Space Agency below an acceptable target, while maintaining the flagship nature of its science return. This notably called for a complete redesign of the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) cryogenic architecture towards a simpler active cooling chain. Passive cooling via successive radiative panels at spacecraft level is now used to provide a 50 K thermal environment to an X-IFU owned cryostat. 4.5 K cooling is achieved via a single remote active cryocooler unit, while a multi-stage Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator ensures heat lift down to the 50 mK required by the detectors. Amidst these changes, the core concept of the readout chain remains robust, employing Transition Edge Sensor microcalorimeters and a SQUID-based Time-Division Multiplexing scheme. Noteworthy is the introduction of a slower pixel. This enables an increase in the multiplexing factor (from 34 to 48) without compromising the instrument energy resolution, hence keeping significant system margins to the new 4 eV resolution requirement. This allows reducing the number of channels by more than a factor two, and thus the resource demands on the system, while keeping a 4’ field of view (compared to 5’ before). Here, in this article, we will give an overview of this new architecture, before detailing its anticipated performances. Finally, we will present the new X-IFU schedule, with its short term focus on demonstration activities towards a mission adoption in early 2027.

Peille, Philippe [Centre National d’Etudes Spatial↗
DOE OSTI2020

Updated design of the CMB polarization experiment satellite LiteBIRD

Recent developments of transition-edge sensors (TESs), based on extensive experience in ground-based experiments, have been making the sensor techniques mature enough for their application on future satellite CMB polarization experiments. LiteBIRD is in the most advanced phase among such future satellites, targeting its launch in Japanese Fiscal Year 2027 (2027FY) with JAXA's H3 rocket. It will accommodate more than 4000 TESs in focal planes of reflective low-frequency and refractive medium-and-high-frequency telescopes in order to detect a signature imprinted on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by the primordial gravitational waves predicted in cosmic inflation. The total wide frequency coverage between 34GHz and 448GHz enables us to extract such weak spiral polarization patterns through the precise subtraction of our Galaxy's foreground emission by using spectral differences among CMB and foreground signals. Telescopes are cooled down to 5Kelvin for suppressing thermal noise and contain polarization modulators with transmissive half-wave plates at individual apertures for separating sky polarization signals from artificial polarization and for mitigating from instrumental 1/f noise. Passive cooling by using V-grooves supports active cooling with mechanical coolers as well as adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators. Sky observations from the second Sun-Earth Lagrangian point, L2, are planned for three years. An international collaboration between Japan, USA, Canada, and Europe is sharing various roles. In May 2019, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), JAXA selected LiteBIRD as the strategic large mission No. 2.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Structural and magnetic characterization of CeTa 7 ⁢O 19 and YbTa 7 ⁢ O 19 with a two-dimensional pseudospin-$\frac{1}{2}$ triangular lattice

Triangular lattice antiferromagnets are prototypes for frustrated magnetism and may potentially realize novel quantum magnetic states such as a quantum spin-liquid ground state. A recent work suggests NdTa 7 ⁢O 19 with rare-earth triangular lattice is a quantum spin-liquid candidate and highlights the large family of rare-earth heptatantalates as a framework for quantum magnetism investigation. Here, in this paper, we report the structural and magnetic characterization of CeTa 7 ⁢ O 19 and YbTa 7 ⁢ O 19 . Both compounds are isostructural to NdTa 7 ⁢O 19 with no detectable structural disorder. For CeTa 7 ⁢O 19 , the crystal field energy levels and parameters are determined by inelastic neutron scattering measurements. Based on the crystal field result, the magnetic susceptibility data could be well fitted and explained, which reveals that CeTa 7 ⁢O 19 is a highly anisotropic Ising triangular-lattice antiferromagnet (𝑔 𝑧 ⁡/𝑔 𝑥⁢𝑦 ∼ 3) with very weak exchange interaction (J ∼ 0.22 K). For YbTa 7⁢ O 19 , millimeter-sized single crystals could be grown. The anisotropic magnetization and electron spin resonance data show that YbTa 7⁢ O 19 has a contrasting in-plane magnetic anisotropy with 𝑔 𝑧 ⁡/𝑔 𝑥⁢𝑦 ∼ 0.67 similar as that of YbMgGaO 4 . The above results indicate that CeTa7⁢ O 19 and YbTa 7 ⁢O 19 with pseudospin-1/2 ground states might either be quantum spin-liquid candidate materials or find applications in adiabatic demagnetization refrigeration due to the weak exchange interaction.

Pan, Feihao↗
DOE OSTI2025

Initial in-orbit operation of the soft X-ray spectrometer Resolve onboard the X-ray imaging and spectroscopy mission satellite

The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission satellite was launched on September 6, 2023 (UT). Its Resolve instrument is a high-resolution X-ray spectrometer enabled by a microcalorimeter array thermally anchored to a 50-mK heat sink. Many sensitive, critical sub-systems comprise Resolve, including a multistage cryogenic cooling system, thin-film aperture filters, low-noise electronics, on-board signal processing, and several sources of X-rays for calibration. We summarize the initial on-orbit power-on and checkout of Resolve that commenced immediately after launch. Soon after launch, the cryocoolers were activated, and their operation was successfully established. On October 9, 2023, the first cycle of the adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator was carried out, bringing the sensors to their steady-state operational temperatures. Following this, the energy resolution at 5.9 keV was successfully measured. The energy scale of the system is highly sensitive to the thermal environment surrounding both the sensors and their analog electronics. Gain correction was performed using reference X-ray lines from onboard calibration sources. To optimize cooler frequency settings, noise spectra were collected across a range of frequencies, and the most suitable frequency pair was selected based on the in-orbit environment. During the final phase of the checkout, an attempt was made to open the gate valve, which is designed to protect the Dewar’s interior from external pressure during ground operations and launch. Unfortunately, this attempt was unsuccessful. As a result, the checkout process was temporarily paused, and a stable operational strategy was subsequently developed to enable Resolve to function effectively with the gate valve remaining closed.

X-ray micro-calorimeter↗