Using two flat-top diamonds and a lot of pressure, scientists at Argonne National Laboratory (CSA CSM) have forced a magnetic crystal into a spin liquid state, which may lead to insights into high temperature superconductivity and quantum computing.

A team of researchers from CERN’s Atomic Spectroscopy and Collisions Using Slow Antiprotons (ASACUSA) collaboration have taken experimental equipment from CERN to the Paul Scherrer Institute near Zurich to create a theoretically predicted, but never before verified, exotic atom and made first measurements of how it absorbs and resonates with light. The results, published May 6 in the journal Nature, mark the first time such spectroscopic measurements have been made on an exotic atom containing a meson, a particle consisting of two fundamental particles called quarks.

Households in Scotland could be using “100% green” hydrogen for cooking and heating if plans for a new world-first gas network are approved. Under the proposal from gas distribution network company SGN, an initial 300 homes in Levenmouth will have access to clean hydrogen within two to three years.

Researchers suggest the coldest material in the universe could reveal the presence of dark matter particles. In a new paper published early May in the journal Physical Review Letters, a group of Spanish scientists suggests magnetometers made using Bose-Einstein Condensates could be used to detect exotic spin-dependent forces. Bose-Einstein Condensates consist of gases cooled to nearly absolute zero. Atoms inside the superfluids are able to rotate for several seconds without experiencing friction, thus amplifying the effects of spin-dependent forces.

Mactac, a North American adhesives, label and packaging company, has launched new cryogenic labelstocks for temperatures as low as -320º F. Mactac’s cryogenic labelstocks are intended for harsh environment applications where labels must withstand exposure to liquid nitrogen or ultralow temperature freezers, thaw cycles, chemicals and solvents.

Alstom S.A. of Saint-Ouen, France, has announced that after 530 days and more than 180,000 driven kilometers, the successful trial operation of the world’s first two hydrogen trains was officially completed at the end of February.

VTT Technical Research Center in Espoo, Finland, has launched a project to acquire Finland’s first quantum computer. The first phase of this three-phase project seeks to bolster Finland’s ability to design and build quantum computers and to create a competence base for future applications. The design and construction of the quantum computer will be carried out as one of the center's "innovation partnerships."

A world-first project in Victoria, Australia, that will convert brown coal to hydrogen for export to Japan is being supported by the only Australian-owned industrial gas company, Coregas. The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) project will see liquefied hydrogen produced from Latrobe Valley brown coal transported to Japan for use in fuel cell electric vehicles and power generation, in one of the world’s first efforts to commercialize technology to liquefy and transport hydrogen.

Scientists at Iowa State University are using light waves to accelerate supercurrents and access the unique properties of the quantum world, including "forbidden" light emissions that one day could be applied to high speed quantum computers, communications and other technologies. The scientists have seen unexpected things in supercurrents—electricity that moves through materials without resistance, usually at super cold temperatures—that break symmetry and are supposed to be forbidden by the conventional laws of physics, said Jigang Wang, a professor of physics and astronomy at Iowa State, a senior scientist at the US Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and the leader of the project.

On February 21, scientists at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) (CSA CSM) began cooling down ICARUS—the largest particle detector in the lab’s Short-Baseline Neutrino Program—and filling it with 760 tons of liquid argon. This moves ICARUS closer to operation and the search for a fourth type of neutrino. “The Short-Baseline Neutrino Program is amazing because it will finally resolve longstanding anomalous results in neutrino measurements,” said Robert Wilson, deputy spokesperson of ICARUS and professor of physics at Colorado State University.

CSA celebrates women in cryogenics and superconductivity. In this feature, seven women in positions across the industry discuss current projects, how they entered the field and their thoughts on attracting more women to the profession.

Honeywell Quantum Solutions, a division of Honeywell International, Inc., has announced the development of an unprecedented quantum computing system. Slated for a mid-2020 release, the company says its quantum system has doubled the quantum volume of the next fastest system at QV (Quantum volume) 64. The system is the first demonstration of quantum charge couple device (QCCD) architecture.

Last year, after the 2018 loss of cryogenically stored human embryos at two plants in California and Ohio in 2018, experts were forced to reconsider the standards by which these facilities maintained their cryogenic systems. Eggschain, an Austin TX-based startup using blockchain technology to provide fertility clinic users and facilities secure tracking and record keeping, investigated the current procedures considered to be routine. Their report, “Best Practices and Policies for Handling and Monitoring Liquid Nitrogen Containers Containing Human Reproductive Specimens,” identifies imperative guidelines for facilities to ensure the safety of users’ samples via proper cryogenic equipment, alarm-monitoring systems and personnel training.

MR Solutions, a Guildford, UK-based manufacturer, produces superconducting, cryogen-free, “benchtop” magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems. The company, founded by Dr. David Taylor in 1999, specializes in machines built for use outside traditional healthcare applications and has developed a range of preclinical imaging systems with innumerable applications. In the past, this technology has seen limited adoption due to its size, operating costs and needed expertise, but that’s quickly changing. Cold Facts spoke with Dr. Taylor on March 5 to learn about some of the unexpected applications of these machines and how cryogenics enables the technology.

A team studying high temperature superconductors at the US Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory has discovered definitive evidence for the existence of a state of matter known as a pair density wave, first predicted by theorists some 50 years ago. Their results, published in the journal Nature on April 1, show that this phase coexists with superconductivity in a well-known bismuth-based copper-oxide superconductor.

A team at the Femtosecond Dynamics research group at the Institute of Experimental Physics at TU Graz, in Graz, Austria, has visualized the movement of single, isolated molecules inside a helium droplet for the first time. The findings, which have implications for future experiments in visualizing processes within excited molecules, were published in Physical Review Letters on March 23.