How Do They Further Cool Liquid Helium After Liquefaction?

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    Cool Helium Liquid
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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers on the methods for further cooling liquid helium after its liquefaction, exploring various cooling techniques and the challenges associated with low-temperature measurements. Participants discuss theoretical and practical aspects of cooling, including the use of vacuum pumps and the lambda point of helium.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant inquires about methods to further cool liquid helium after liquefaction, mentioning evaporation as a potential technique.
  • Another participant explains that pumping away the vapor using a vacuum pump can lower the temperature of liquid helium from 4.2K to about 1.2K, but further cooling requires helium-3 or a dilution refrigerator.
  • It is suggested that resistive thermometers are more suitable for measuring temperatures below 4.2K, as thermocouples are less effective at these temperatures.
  • A participant draws an analogy between cooling liquid helium and freezing water in a vacuum chamber by removing vapor.
  • Concerns are raised about helium seeping out of containers when it reaches the lambda point, with references to historical issues in dilution refrigerators and the necessity of a Rollin film for helium to escape.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the effectiveness of using a vacuum pump to cool liquid helium, but there are differing views on the implications of reaching the lambda point and the conditions under which helium may escape its container. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the specifics of the lambda point behavior.

Contextual Notes

Some assumptions about the behavior of helium at low temperatures and the effectiveness of various cooling methods are not fully explored. The discussion does not resolve the technical details of the lambda point or the specific mechanisms of helium escape.

cragar
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Ok so when they compress the gas and remove the heat until it liquefies then how do they further cool the liquid. I know they can evaporate a little more of the liquid helium to cool it a little bit more. And i couldn't find much on how a pomeranchuk cell works .
Any input will be appreciated . And also could this low temp be measured with a thermocouple.
 
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Cooling liquid helium is easy:all you need to do is to pump on the liquid; i.e. pump away the vapour using a vacuum pump. This will lower the temperature from 4.2K to about 1.2K or so. You can't really go lower than that using only helium-4; you either need to use He-3 as well in a second stage (oumping on liquid He-3 get you down to about 230mK) or use a mixture of He-3 and He-4 in a dilution refrigerator (which will get you down to about 10-20 mK). Or, alternatively, use other types of cooling such as adiabatic demagnetization refrigeration.

Temperatures below 4.2K are usually measured using resistive thermometers (thermocouples don't work very well at these temperature); these are essentially just resistors the component made from materials where the resistivity is strongly temperature dependent meaning you can plot a resistance vs. temperature graph (meaning all you need to do in order to measure the temperature is to measure the resistance), examples of such materials would be RuO2 or germanium.
There are also quite a few other methods (capacitive, various primary thermometers etc) .but resistive thermometers are by far the most common below 4.2K.
 
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thanks for your answer , so basically you have a vacuum pump and you pump away the vapor and this cools it , So I imagine this is the same as putting water in a vacuum chamber and pumping the vapor away till the water freezes.
 
And when the Helium reaches the lambda point wouldn't it start to seep out of their container.
 
cragar said:
thanks for your answer , so basically you have a vacuum pump and you pump away the vapor and this cools it , So I imagine this is the same as putting water in a vacuum chamber and pumping the vapor away till the water freezes.

Exactly

And when the Helium reaches the lambda point wouldn't it start to seep out of their container.

That can happen (and frequently did in e.g. old dilution refrigerators, which is why you needed a so-called film heater); but remember that you need a Rollin film on the outside of the (open) container in order for the He to creep out and "escape".
In most systems this won't happen simply because the outside (or even the top) of the container is warmer than the lambda point.
 
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