Sub-millikelvin station at Synergetic Extreme Condition User Facility**Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2016YFA0300601, 2015CB921402, 2011CB921702, and 2009CB929101), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11527806, 91221203, 11174340, 11174357, and 91421303), and the Strategic Priority Research Program B of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB07010100). Z.G.C. acknowledges the support from

Abstract

The Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, is in charge of the construction of the Synergetic Extreme Condition User Facility (SECUF) in Huairou, Beijing. The SECUF is a comprehensive facility focused on providing extreme physical conditions for scientific research, including an ultralow temperature, ultrahigh pressure, ultrahigh magnetic field, and ultrafast laser. The ultralow temperature will be realized by the sub-millikelvin (sub-mK) station, whose main component is an adiabatic nuclear demagnetization refrigerator (ANDR). The refrigerator is designed to have a base temperature below 1 mK and a magnetic field up to 16 T for experiments, as well as a characteristic parameter of B/T⩾104 T/K. In this review, we introduce adiabatic nuclear demagnetization refrigeration, thermometry from 10 mK to sub-mK, the properties and parameters of the ANDR of the SECUF, and related prospective research topics.