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ALMA Memo #281

Development of a Pulse Tube Refrigerator for Millimeter Array Sensor Cooling: Phase I

R. Radebaugh [1], E. Marquardt [1], P. Bradley [1]

December 10, 1999

Keywords: pulse tube refrigerator, sensor cooling, compressors

This report describes progress made between April, 1999, and September, 1999, in a research and development program regarding pulse tube refrigeration at 10 K for high efficiency and high reliability sensor cooling applications. The particular application being addressed here is one in which a pulse tube refrigerator is used to precool a helium Joule-Thompson stage to 10 K. The Joule-Thompson stage is designed to reach 3.8 K for cooling Superconductor- Insulator-Superconductor (SIS) radio frequency detectors on the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescope to be located in the Andes Mountains of northern Chile. The remote location requires high efficiency and high reliability for the refrigeration system.

[1] NIST


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Last modified: 10 December, 1999

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