Comparative Study on Performance of Regenerator for Miniature Pulse Tube Cryocooler with Metal Matrix Materials at Ultra High Frequencies

A Miniature Pulse Tube Cryocooler (MPTC) is the first selection for the cooling of IR sensors, infrared detectors, etc. in space technology. The regenerator is one of the key components to operate an MPTC at high efficiency. The objective of this study is to explore the possibilities of the different matrices as regenerator filler materials for MPTC operating at ultra-high frequencies. REGEN 3.3 is one of the best software available for the design and optimization of cryocooler regenerators. We have used REGEN 3.3 for numerical simulations of the three different regenerator matrix materials viz. stainless steel wire mesh screen (SS 635#), brass wire mesh screen (500#) and copper wire mesh screen (500#) at the hot end and cold end temperatures of 300[Formula: see text]K and 80[Formula: see text]K for COP, cooling power, total power losses and pressure losses, at an ultra-high frequency of 100[Formula: see text]Hz and 200[Formula: see text]Hz. The simulation results depict that the regenerator using stainless steel mesh screen shows better results than that of the brass mesh screen and copper mesh screen at 100[Formula: see text]Hz. However, the performance of brass mesh screen and copper mesh screen performs better than the stainless steel at 200[Formula: see text]Hz. Therefore, the proposed matrix materials can be used as regenerator materials for the MPTC at ultra-high frequencies with better performances.

Vibration Property of a Cryogenic Optical Resonator within a Pulse-Tube Cryostat

Cryogenic ultrastable laser cavities push laser stability to new levels due to their lower thermal noise limitation. Vibrational noise is one of the major obstacles to achieve a thermal-noise-limited cryogenic ultrastable laser system. Here, we carefully analyze the vibrational noise contribution to the laser frequency. We measure the vibrational noise from the top of the pulse-tube cryocooler down to the experiment space. Major differences emerge between room and cryogenic temperature operation. We cooled a homemade 6 cm sapphire optical resonator down to 3.4 K. Locking a 1064 nm laser to the resonator, we measure a frequency stability of 1.3×10−15. The vibration sensitivities change at different excitation frequencies. The vibrational noise analysis of the laser system paves the way for in situ accurate evaluation of vibrational noise for cryogenic systems. This may help in cryostat design and cryogenic precision measurements.