16th September 2015, University of Manchester
Organised by the History of Physics and Low Temperature Groups of the Institute of Physics
The principle of cooling below 0.3K by dissolving the isotope 3He in liquid 4He was proposed by Heinz London in the early 1950s. It was realised in 1964 in Leiden (0.22K), in 1965 in Manchester (0.065K), in 1966 in Dubna near Moscow (0.025K) and in 1967 in Urbana (0.0045K). Since then dilution refrigerators have become the method of choice for continuous cooling to millikelvin temperatures, and hundreds of refrigerators were built and sold world-wide. Presentations by pioneers of the field will cover topics from the early developments in the 60s to further advances in the technology and itsuse in studies of condensed matter, nuclear physics and astrophysics.
Admission free. For further details and registration go to http://www.mub.eps.manchester.ac.uk/50-years-of-dilution-refrigeration/.