Compact Cryocooler Research Articles

2 K J-T cooler for quantum detection: emphasis on the Stirling-type pulse tube pre-cooler

Quantum detection of single photon achieves its highest sensitivity for temperature below 2 K. The cooling requirements for such application are very low, a few milliwatts for current harness heat intercept and radiation shielding. For that purpose, we are developing a compact cryocooler based on a 4He JT cooler. A high frequency pulse tube will provide the pre-cooling of two intermediate stages on the JT. The pulse tube is the key component for miniaturization and energy consumption. With low cooling power goals, a miniaturization work has been done on the pulse tube with the aim of reducing the size and power of compressor units. The pulse tube configuration is using two cold fingers, connected together by a heat intercept providing precooling for the lowest temperature stage. Cooling power at the cold tip as well as intercept heat flow have been measured. Numerical simulations have been conducted in parallel to study the impact of the size of the pulsation tube and of the regenerator on the pulse tube performances. Three cold units pulse tubes have been tested in similar conditions. Net cooling power, power at the intercept and impact of the tube and regenerator size on performances will be discussed.

Numerical study on a Franchot double-acting heat-driven thermoacoustic-Stirling cryocooler for natural gas liquefaction

Compact heat-driven cryocoolers can harness the thermal energy produced by burning a small quantity of natural gas to accomplish liquefaction. This addresses the requirements of distributed natural gas stations in remote locations. This paper introduces a Franchot double-acting heat-driven thermoacoustic-Stirling cryocooler designed for natural gas liquefaction. It conducts a comparative analysis of the mechanical and electrical systems, focusing on the acoustic field, available energy loss, and performance. Simulation results indicate that the optimized mechanical configuration system achieves peak performance with a piston area ratio of 0.84 and a piston phase angle of 90°. It yields a cooling power of 1964 W@130 K when driven by an 873 K heat source, resulting in an overall system efficiency of 28.3%. This marks a notable enhancement compared to current thermoacoustic systems. While the electrical configuration provides superior stability, the performance is constrained by significant losses in acoustic-electric conversion of linear alternators and compressors. To further enhance efficiency, it is worthwhile to establish direct power transfer between the pistons, for example, by aligning the expansion piston and compression piston coaxially. The evolved duplex configuration eliminates the loss from electrical energy conversion, leading to a remarkable 64.7% increase in overall efficiency. Simultaneously, this evolutionary approach offers a new perspective to elucidate the inherent connections among Stirling heat engines of Franchot double-acting and duplex. It provides valuable theoretical insights for the subsequent analysis and design of Stirling heat-driven refrigerators or cryocoolers.

Polarization-Selective Enhancement of Telecom Wavelength Quantum Dot Transitions in an Elliptical Bullseye Resonator.

Semiconductor quantum dots are promising candidates for the generation of nonclassical light. Coupling a quantum dot to a device capable of providing polarization-selective enhancement of optical transitions is highly beneficial for advanced functionalities, such as efficient resonant driving schemes or applications based on optical cyclicity. Here, we demonstrate broadband polarization-selective enhancement by coupling a quantum dot emitting in the telecom O-band to an elliptical bullseye resonator. We report bright single-photon emission with a degree of linear polarization of 96%, Purcell factor of 3.9 ± 0.6, and count rates up to 3 MHz. Furthermore, we present a measurement of two-photon interference without any external polarization filtering. Finally, we demonstrate compatibility with compact Stirling cryocoolers by operating the device at temperatures up to 40 K. These results represent an important step toward practical integration of optimal quantum dot photon sources in deployment-ready setups.

Temperature-Enhanced Exciton Emission from GaAs Cone-Shell Quantum Dots.

The temperature-dependent intensities of the exciton (X) and biexciton (XX) peaks from single GaAs cone-shell quantum dots (QDs) are studied with micro photoluminescence (PL) at varied excitation power and QD size. The QDs are fabricated by filling self-assembled nanoholes, which are drilled in an AlGaAs barrier by local droplet etching (LDE) during molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). This method allows the fabrication of strain-free QDs with sizes precisely controlled by the amount of material deposited for hole filling. Starting from the base temperature T = 3.2 K of the cryostat, single-dot PL measurements demonstrate a strong enhancement of the exciton emission up to a factor of five with increasing T. Both the maximum exciton intensity and the temperature Tx,max of the maximum intensity depend on excitation power and dot size. At an elevated excitation power, Tx,max becomes larger than 30 K. This allows an operation using an inexpensive and compact Stirling cryocooler. Above Tx,max, the exciton intensity decreases strongly until it disappears. The experimental data are quantitatively reproduced by a model which considers the competing processes of exciton generation, annihilation, and recombination. Exciton generation in the QDs is achieved by the sum of direct excitation in the dot, plus additional bulk excitons diffusing from the barrier layers into the dot. The thermally driven bulk-exciton diffusion from the barriers causes the temperature enhancement of the exciton emission. Above Tx,max, the intensity decreases due to exciton annihilation processes. In comparison to the exciton, the biexciton intensity shows only very weak enhancement, which is attributed to more efficient annihilation processes.

Nanocavity enhanced photon coherence of solid-state quantum emitters operating up to 30 K

Solid-state emitters such as epitaxial quantum dots have emerged as a leading platform for efficient, on-demand sources of indistinguishable photons, a key resource for many optical quantum technologies. To maximise performance, these sources normally operate at liquid helium temperatures ( ∼4 K ), introducing significant size, weight and power requirements that can be impractical for proposed applications. Here we experimentally resolve the two distinct temperature-dependent phonon interactions that degrade indistinguishability, allowing us to demonstrate that coupling to a photonic nanocavity can greatly improve photon coherence at elevated temperatures up to 30 K that are compatible with compact cryocoolers. We derive a polaron model that fully captures the temperature-dependent influence of phonons observed in our experiments, providing predictive power to further increase the indistinguishability and operating temperature of future devices through optimised cavity parameters.

Bright Source of Purcell‐Enhanced, Triggered, Single Photons in the Telecom C‐Band

AbstractSeveral emission features mark semiconductor quantum dots as promising non‐classical light sources for prospective quantum implementations. For long‐distance transmission and Si‐based on‐chip processing, the possibility to match the telecom C‐band is decisive, while source brightness and high single‐photon purity are key features in virtually any quantum implementation. An InAs/InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot emitting in the telecom C‐band coupled to a circular Bragg grating is presented here. This cavity structure stands out due to its high broadband collection efficiency and high attainable Purcell factors. Here, simultaneously high brightness with a fiber‐coupled single‐photon count rate of 13.9 MHz for an excitation repetition rate of 228 MHz (first‐lens single‐photon collection efficiency ≈17% for NA = 0.6), while maintaining a low multi‐photon contribution of is demonstrated. Moreover, the compatibility with temperatures of up to 40 K attainable with compact cryo coolers, further underlines the suitability for out‐of‐the‐lab implementations.

LPT6510 development up to flight model

The LPT6510 is a compact integral pulse-tube cryocooler for 50–120 K applications, with a design derived from the Thales Cryogenics MPTC compressor developed under ESA TRP and the Absolut System SSC80 pulse-tube.An update will be given on tests and development performed on the LPT6510 cooler, including test results up to TRL6, additional work done towards the build of flight coolers in the frame of the TRISHNA project, and planned future work.Detailed cryogenic performance results will be shown over the entire operational envelope, the environmental test campaign will be highlighted, and specific aspects such as off-state parasitic losses and induced vibrations will be discussed.

Compact Remote Spectral Terahertz Imager

We report on development of an array of spectral sensitive detectors cooled down to 70 K by the compact cryocooler. The spectral sensitive operation of the detectors, explored between 0.16 THz and 0.22 THz, is due to the resonant excitation of the plasma waves in the two-dimensional electron gas of GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. A typical responsivity of the detectors is 0.01 A/W at 70 K while it increases by two orders of magnitude when the detector array is cooled down to 0.5 K. The photo-response has surprisingly a narrow peak of spectral sensitivity, sim 2–5%, which are highly likely due to the dimensional resonances of the plasma waves. As a demonstration of the spectral sensitive operation we detect a spectral feature of LiNbO_{3} crystal at 0.174 THz.

Numerical analysis and experimental research of a 2W/35 K Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler

Cooling to the temperature of liquid nitrogen to liquid hydrogen is a necessary working prerequisite for some infrared detectors. The development of compact and efficient miniature cryocoolers is of great significance for the space application of the detectors. The pulse tube cryocooler driven by a dual-opposed linear compressor is prospective in space applications due to the advantages of no low-temperature moving parts, compact structure, and high reliability. In this paper, a 2W/35K Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler with a single-stage structure has been designed and tested. The influences of structural parameters of the phase shifters such as inertance tube, as well as the operating parameters such as operating frequency and charging pressure, on the cooling performance were investigated through numerical calculations and experiments.

A quantum key distribution testbed using a plug&play telecom-wavelength single-photon source

Deterministic solid state quantum light sources are considered key building blocks for future communication networks. While several proof-of-principle experiments of quantum communication using such sources have been realized, most of them required large setups—often involving liquid helium infrastructure or bulky closed-cycle cryotechnology. In this work, we report on the first quantum key distribution (QKD) testbed using a compact benchtop quantum dot single-photon source operating at telecom wavelengths. The plug&play device emits single-photon pulses at O-band wavelengths (1321 nm) and is based on a directly fiber-pigtailed deterministically fabricated quantum dot device integrated into a compact Stirling cryocooler. The Stirling is housed in a 19 in. rack module including all accessories required for stand-alone operation. Implemented in a simple QKD testbed emulating the BB84 protocol with polarization coding, we achieve an multiphoton suppression of g(2)(0)=0.10±0.01 and a raw key rate of up to (4.72 ± 0.13) kHz using an external pump laser. In this setting, we further evaluate the performance of our source in terms of the quantum bit error ratios, secure key rates, and tolerable losses expected in full implementations of QKD while accounting for finite key size effects. Furthermore, we investigate the optimal settings for a two-dimensional temporal acceptance window applied on the receiver side, resulting in predicted tolerable losses up to 23.19 dB. Not least, we compare our results with previous proof-of-concept QKD experiments using quantum dot single-photon sources. Our study represents an important step forward in the development of fiber-based quantum-secured communication networks exploiting sub-Poissonian quantum light sources.

Entanglement-based quantum key distribution with a blinking-free quantum dot operated at a temperature up to 20 K

Entanglement-based quantum key distribution (QKD) promises enhanced robustness against eavesdropping and compatibility with future quantum networks. Among other sources, semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) can generate polarization-entangled photon pairs with near-unity entanglement fidelity and a multiphoton emission probability close to zero even at maximum brightness. These properties have been demonstrated under resonant two-photon excitation (TPE) and at operation temperatures below 10 K. However, source blinking is often reported under TPE conditions, limiting the maximum achievable photon rate. In addition, operation temperatures reachable with compact cryocoolers could facilitate the widespread deployment of QDs, e.g., in satellite-based quantum communication. We demonstrate blinking-free emission of highly entangled photon pairs from GaAs QDs embedded in a p-i-n diode. High fidelity entanglement persists at temperatures of at least 20 K, which we use to implement fiber-based QKD between two buildings with an average raw key rate of 55 bits / s and a qubit error rate of 8.4%. We are confident that by combining electrical control with already demonstrated photonic and strain engineering, QDs will keep approaching the ideal source of entangled photons for real world applications.

Study of thermal transport in highly anisotropic materials for space recuperator applications

A high-effectiveness, low-pressure-drop recuperator is one of the critical components of energy-efficient, high-capacity, low-temperature cryocoolers for long-term storage of cryogens including hydrogen. This paper presents an investigation of the thermal transport mechanisms in highly anisotropic materials. These materials enable the development of compact, lightweight, high-effectiveness recuperative heat exchangers. The high in-plane thermal conductivity allows effective heat transfer from the hot stream to the cold stream, while the low out-of-plane thermal conductivity keeps undesirable axial conduction to a minimum. The concept suggested in this paper could lead to a disruptive technology which affects how future space heat exchangers are designed and built. This is the first time an investigation is carried out to exploit the unique thermophysical properties of lightweight, highly anisotropic materials to enable the development of high-effectiveness, compact and lightweight recuperators for cryocoolers. A very attractive design feature of the recuperator is its modularity, so that high gas flow rates can be obtained by simply increasing the number of modules. NASA Space Technology Roadmap indicates that compact cryocoolers capable of removing 20 W or greater of heat from liquid hydrogen storage tanks could offer significant mass savings of cryogenic propellants through zero boil-off (ZBO), and thus enable long-duration space missions.

Detection of black body radiation using a compact terahertz imager

We detect terahertz radiation emitted by a blackbody object at room temperature. The probe consists of semiconductor detectors coupled to the cold finger of a compact cryo-cooler. The detectors are narrow conductive channels in two-dimensional electron gas, which is sensitive to variations of photon flux through the mechanism of excitation and rectification of plasma waves. The excitation has a resonant nature, with an unexpectedly narrow FWHM, below 10%. The key element of the concept is a compact cryo-platform, which enables us to use highly sensitive cryo-detectors, while keeping the system compact, ∼34 cm side, and mobile. We discriminate the temperature variation of the blackbody object as small as 1.0 K at a distance of 1 m. There is room for further optimization of the detectors and optical systems to boost the temperature resolution down to 0.5 K and the operation distance to 5 m, which are needed for practical applications.

Plug&Play Fiber‐Coupled 73 kHz Single‐Photon Source Operating in the Telecom O‐Band

AbstractA user‐friendly, fiber‐coupled, single‐photon source operating at telecom wavelengths is a key component of photonic quantum networks providing long‐haul, ultra‐secure data exchange. To take full advantage of quantum‐mechanical data protection and to maximize the transmission rate and distance, a true quantum source providing single photons on demand is highly desirable. This great challenge is tackled by developing a ready‐to‐use semiconductor quantum‐dot‐based device that launches single photons at a wavelength of 1.3 µm directly into a single‐mode optical fiber. In the proposed approach, the quantum dot is deterministically integrated into a nanophotonic structure to ensure efficient on‐chip coupling into a fiber. The whole arrangement is integrated into a 19ʺ compatible housing to enable stand‐alone operation by cooling via a compact Stirling cryocooler. The realized source delivers single photons with a multiphoton events probability as low as 0.15 and a single‐photon emission rate of up to 73 kHz into a standard telecom single‐mode fiber.

CFD investigation on the characteristics of annular pulse tube

Abstract CFD models are used to study the performance of circular and annular pulse tubes working at 77–300 K. The oscillating flow and heat transfer characteristics are investigated. In terms of pulse tube impedance, simulation results indicate that the annular shape has negligible influence when the length and flow area are kept the same as circular pulse tube. However, compared with the circular pulse tube, the thermal performance of annular pulse tube apparently deteriorates which is mainly due to the increased thermal losses caused by heat transfer between the internal gas and two cylindrical tube walls (instead of one in the case of circular pulse tube). The expansion efficiency (defined as the enthalpy flow divided by acoustic power at the cold end) of annular pulse tube is lower by about 14% compared with that of circular pulse tube. Among the influencing factors, hydraulic diameter of annular pulse tube has a significant influence on the performance, and smaller hydraulic diameter leads to a reduced expansion efficiency. The effects of tube wall thermal conductivity are also discussed. This study provides a better understanding on the mechanism of annular pulse tube which sets the basis for optimizing a compact low temperature cryocooler for future applications.

Attaining the liquid helium temperature with a compact pulse tube cryocooler for space applications

Recent breakthroughs in space science have motivated space exploration programs in many countries including China. Cryocoolers, which provide the mandatory low-temperature environment for many sensitive yet delicate space detectors, are crucial for the proper functioning of various systems. One benchmark for the cryocooler performance is attaining the liquid helium temperature. However, even with complex configurations and multiple driving sources, only a few cryocoolers to date can achieve this goal. Here we report a high-frequency pulse tube cryocooler (HPTC) driven by a single non-oil-lubrication compressor which is capable of reaching the liquid helium temperature while offering other advantages such as high compactness, excellent reliability and high efficiency. The HPTC obtains a no-load temperature of 4.4 K, which is the first realization of cooling below the 4He critical point with a gas-coupled two-stage arrangement. The prototype can provide a cooling power of 87 mW at 8 K, and 5.2 mW at 5 K with a 425 W input electric power, showing leading-level efficiency. Moreover, we demonstrate the ability of the cryocooler to simultaneously provide cooling power at different temperature levels to meet different requirements. Therefore, the prototype developed here could be a promising cryocooler for space applications and beyond.

Development of the LPT6510 pulse-tube cooler for 60–150 K applications

The LPT6510 is a cost effective compact integral pulse-tube cryocooler targeting a wide application area for 60–150 K applications with one design. The product was previously shown as an engineering demonstrator model based on the Thales MPTC compressor and the Absolut System SSC80 pulse-tube.In this paper, an update will be presented regarding the continued development of this cooler. The design will be presented, including the required design and process validations to ensure series production manufacturability, and initial build- and test results will be shown, with an analysis of projected performances. The remainder of planned tests will be presented, and an overview will be given of process and qualification aspects relevant to future production of flight model cryocoolers.Finally, the roadmap for the product will be presented, including the potential future spin-off from the ESA Next-Generation Compressor development under ESA contract 4000124040/18/NL/KML.

Demonstration of a Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detector using Adiabatic Quantum-Flux-Parametron Logic in a 0.1-W Gifford-McMahon Cryocooler

Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SSPDs or SNSPDs) have superior performance and are thus used for many applications, such as quantum information and laser communications. Lately, much effort has been spent on the development of multi-pixel SSPD arrays to achieve single-photon-level imaging. SSPD arrays require efficient readout schemes that reduce the number of coaxial cables for reading out the SSPD pixels. In a previous study, we proposed a readout interface using adiabatic quantum-flux-parametron (AQFP) logic, which digitizes the information of an SSPD at cryogenic temperature. In this study, we show the first demonstration of an SSPD that is read out by the AQFP readout interface placed in the same 0.1-W Gifford-McMahon cryocooler. The measurement results show that the AQFP readout interface reads out the SSPD with low error rates. Also, it is found that the temperature of the sample stage does not change even after the AQFP readout interface is turned on, which indicates that the power and current required for the AQFP readout interface are sufficiently low for the implementation using a compact cryocooler.

Design and test bench operation results of a solid hydrogen pellet injector developed for SST-1 tokamak

A single barrel pellet injection system is developed for pellet injection related studies targeting SST-1 tokamak plasma. Conventional pipe gun concept is adopted for designing the injector. The hydrogen ice is formed in-situ in the gun barrel, and a high pressure light propellant gas is used to dislocate the pellet from the freezing zone and accelerate it to higher speed. This system uses a cryogen free, closed loop compact cryocooler, which provides ease of handling and operational reliability to the pellet freezing process. Pellet parameters such as size and speed are considered by using the density limit and neutral gas shielding (NGS) model based calculations, respectively. The designed size and speed (Vp) of the pellet is fixed at (1.6 mm length [ℓ] × 1.8 mm diameter [φ]) and Vp < 800 m/s, respectively. A programmable logic controller (PLC) based control system and a graphical user interface (GUI) is developed and installed to operate the injector remotely. This paper presents the design and test results of the injector such as pellet freezing capability, effect of temperature gradient along the barrel on pellet formation process and its speed control with propellant pressure.

Terahertz Transition-Edge Sensor With Kinetic-Inductance Amplifier at 4.2 K

Different terrestrial terahertz applications would benefit from large-format arrays, operating in compact and inexpensive cryocoolers at liquid helium temperature with sensitivity, limited only by the 300-K background radiation. A voltage-biased transition-edge sensor (TES) as a THz detector can have sufficient sensitivity and has a number of advantages important for real applications: linearity of response, high dynamic range, and simple calibration. However, it requires a low-noise current readout. Usually, a current amplifier based on superconducting quantum-interference device (SQUID) is used for readout, but the scalability of this approach is limited due to the complexity of the operation and fabrication. Recently, it has been shown that instead of SQUID it is possible to use a current sensor, which is based on the nonlinearity of the kinetic inductance of a current-carrying superconducting stripe. Embedding the stripe into a microwave high- Q superconducting resonator allows for reaching sufficient current sensitivity. More important, it is possible with the resonator approach to scale up to large arrays using frequency-division multiplexing in GHz range. Here, we demonstrate the operation of a voltage-biased TES with a microwave kinetic-inductance current amplifier at 4.2 K. We measured the expected intrinsic noise-equivalent power ∼5 × 10−14 W/Hz1/2 and confirmed that a sufficient sensitivity of the readout can be reached in conjunction with a real TES operation. The construction of an array with the improved sensitivity ∼10−15 W/Hz1/2 at 4.2 K could be realized using a combination of the new current amplifier and already existing TES detectors with improved thermal isolation.