Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory (CSA CSM) have collaborated to design, build and test two superconducting undulator devices that could make X-ray lasers more powerful, versatile, compact and durable. In tests, the prototype SCUs successfully produced stronger magnetic fields than conventional permanent magnetic undulators of the same size. The fields in turn can produce higher-energy laser light to open up a broader range of experiments, according to the team.

Northwestern University and the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (CSA CSM) have established a new research center where scientists will focus on advancing superconductivity, hoping to produce societal gains in the fields of particle physics, solid-state physics, materials science, medicine, energy and environmental sciences. Included are investigations into the upper limit of performance of superconductors for next-generation particle accelerators, the development of superconducting devices for quantum information science and technology and an expansion of superconducting materials research.

An MIT research team has created a supersolid, a new form of matter that combines both form and viscosity-free flow—properties that most people consider mutually exclusive. The team formed the new material from a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), suspending the superfluid gas in an ultrahigh vacuum and then manipulating the sample with a combination of laser and evaporative cooling until it developed a periodic density modulation.

Air Liquide advanced Technologies has chosen Lydall Performance Materials to supply insulation for cryogenic lines the company is manufacturing for the ITER fusion machine. Both are CSA Corporate Sustaining Members. ITER engineers use extreme low temperature to cool the superconducting magnets needed to confine and stabilize the machine's fusion reaction. Air Liquide's lines are one vital component of this cryogenic production system, designed to transport liquid helium through a 1.6km network that will distribute the cold power needed to run various ITER equipment.

Linde North America has formed a new joint venture with Air Products named East Coast Nitrogen (ECN), through which the companies will build a new 1,100 ton per day world-scale air separation unit and industrial gas liquefier in Glenmont NY. An approximate capital investment of $60 million will be made in the new facility. Air Products will construct and operate the facility, targeting December 2018 for commercial status. It will produce liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen and liquid argon.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a new nanoscale memory cell that provides stable memory at a smaller size than other proposed memory devices and holds tremendous promise for successful integration with superconducting processors.

Chart Industries, Inc. (CSA CSM) has completed the sale of certain assets related to its Qdrive® set of products to RIX Industries. For the past several years Chart has developed and supplied QDrive technologies to RIX in support of liquid oxygen systems for military applications. Qdrive operations currently located in Troy NY will be relocating to RIX’s facilities in Benicia CA.

HYPRES, a CSA CSM known as the Digital Superconductor Company, has launched Superconducting Energy Efficient Quantum Computing, or SeeQC, a wholly owned subsidiary headquartered in Rome. SeeQC will focus on developing superconducting technologies for a variety of applications, including scalable fault-tolerant quantum computing, quantum communications and quantum simulators. The company will also work closely with its technology partners, including major European university labs.

Inside the Large Hadron Collider, beams of particles sprint 17 miles around in opposite directions through a pair of evacuated beam pipes. The interior of the pipes needs to be spotless, but it’s not dirt or grime that clogs the LHC—it’s microscopic air molecules.

Wincosyn Solution Co., Ltd., of China has selected Cool Pair Plus (CSA CSM) to support its multiple MRI systems, specifically magnet sub-systems, throughout China. Wincosyn Solution is an integrated delivery network of nine independent service companies that provide hospitals turnkey solutions for CT, MRI, and Cath Labs, ECT and linear accelerator systems throughout China.

A research collaboration based at Stony Brook University has found that “stripes” of electronic charge, which may play a key role in superconductivity, persist across surprisingly high temperatures, shape conductivity and have direction-dependent properties. The findings—published in Physical Review Letters—came as the group studied metals that conduct electricity poorly, looking for a perhaps counter-intuitive key to unlock high-temperature superconductivity.

NIST scientists have devised a novel hybrid system for cooling superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPD). It uses a pulse-tube refrigerator cooled to 10 K to precool a Joule-Thomson cryocooler that can then reach 2 K. That level of cooling has typically been achieved with liquid helium systems that are costly, complicated, large, and demand considerable expertise to operate and maintain safely.

Accelerators at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (CSA CSM) have delivered beam to the Muon g-2 experiment for the first time, kicking off a three-year effort to measure what happens to those particles when placed in a precise magnetic field. The answer could rewrite scientists’ picture of the universe and how it works.