Refrigeration of a superconducting memory for a computer

Abstract

An estimate is made of the refrigeration, in terms of consumption of liquid helium, required to maintain at low temperature a memory of superconducting cells. Using commercially available cable, the major source of heat is thermal conduction down the leads to the memory. If a cable of low thermal conductivity is used, a memory of one million cells should not consume more than about 21. of liquid helium per hour. In an appendix, the optimum size for copper electrical leads running directly from room temperature to liquid helium is calculated.