Low Temperatures - the posters

1. Low Temperatures- the posters Low TemperaturesCryogenics Cold on EarthCold in Space Superconductivity Superfluidity Funded by EPSRC (Partnerships for Public Awareness) Institute of Physics Oxford Instruments Mike Lea, John Saunders, Colin Winterton Royal Holloway Rick Marshall Oakham School Bill Block British Antarctic Survey Bob Lambourne Open University

2. Low Temperatures- the aim To inform and excite interest in students To provide a summary of low temperature research and applications in physics, cryogenic engineering, astronomy, planetary science, medicine and biology To be distributed to schools as A3 posters and A4 summary sheets for individual students from September 2001

3. Plaque commemorating the coldest temperature recorded on Earth View of the main drag Coldest on Earth Vostok Ice Station • -89.2°C on July 21, 1983

4. Tenuous Clouds on Triton South Pole of Triton Surface of Triton Plain of Ice Montage of Neptune and Triton Courtesy of Coldest in the Solar System • Triton - moon of Neptune • Voyager 2: 25 August 1989 • -235°C or 38 K • Pressure 15 bar

5. T = 2.726 K T = 3.353 mK T = 18 K Cosmic Microwave Background COsmicBackgroundExplorer • COBE satellite 1991 • Black Body Radiation • Doppler dipole shift • Temperature fluctuations

6. BOOMERANG maps the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) using a balloon-borne telescope that circumnavigates Antarctica. BOOMERANG Telescope • Antarctica 1998 • CMB fluctuations • Flat Universe Courtesy of The BOOMERANG Collaboration

7. Cold wind from The Boomerang Nebula Coldest in the Universe • The Boomerang Nebula, 5000 light years away, is an expanding cloud of dust and gas from an old star which is collapsing to form a white dwarf. • The expanding gas cools to 1K, the lowest temperature found in the Universe. • A radio telescope in Chile was used to compare signals from carbon monoxide in the Boomerang Nebula with signals from the cosmic microwave background radiation(CMB). The cold region absorbs some of the background radiation. Dr. Raghvendra Sahai, Lars-Ake Nyman, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA

8. Nuclear demagnetisation 150 K Lancaster University Liquid helium: 90 K Copper (electrons): 7 K University of Helsinki Dilution refrigeratorRoyal Holloway 5 mK Rhodium (nuclei): 100 pK Coldest Laboratory 1 Traditional cryostats

9. Na atoms at Stanford Coldest Laboratory 2 • Trapped atom clouds • Laser cooling • Nobel prize 1997 • Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, William Phillips • Magneto-optic traps (MOT) for atoms • 30 nK

10. Example of Poster No.1

11. Example of Poster No.2

12. Example of Poster No.3

13. Freeze tolerance Ice forms between cellsIce nucleators Bacteria Special proteins Cells supercool Frozen frogs! Treefrog- blue with cold Alive! Frozen Ice islethalto living cells Freeze Avoidance to -40°C Antifreeze compounds -Glycerol Antifreeze proteins -Inhibit ice growth Avoid ice nucleators -Bacteria seed ice formation Frozen Alive by Janet M Storey

14. Cryosurgery • Cryotherapy uses liquid nitrogen (77 K) • Cancer cells repeatedly frozen and thawed • Rapidly expanding field Courtesy of Royal Surrey County Hospital

15. Example of Poster No.4

16. Example of Poster No.5

17. Yamanshi - MLX01 • Maglev trains 312 mph (Germany) 323 mph (Japan) • Superconducting magnet • Guideway Maglev trains • Magnetic repulsion Levitation Yamanashi Maglev Test Line

18. Example of Poster No.6

19. BEC • Matter waves  = h/p = h/mv • Thermal energy • Thermal wavelength • Bose-Einstein condensation  a Na atoms Wolfgang Ketterle MIT Bouncing Rb atoms - Sussex Bose-Einstein condensation • Atoms in traps • Laser cooling • Evaporation • T > 30 nK

20. Low Temperatures - the posters Low Temperatures Cryogenics Cold on Earth Cold in Space Superconductivity Superfluidity For details of how to get the summary sheets and posters call 01784 443448 or e-mail: physics@rhul.ac.uk All comments welcome!