Experimental Techniques for Low-Temperature Measurements: Cryostat Design, Material Properties, and Superconductor Critical-Current Testing

This book presents a highly integrated, step-by-step approach to the design and construction of low-temperature measurement apparatus. It is effectively two books in one: A textbook on cryostat design techniques and an appendix data handbook that provides materials-property data for carrying out that design. The main text encompasses a wide range of information, written for specialists, without leaving beginning students behind. After summarizing cooling methods, Part I provides core information in an accessible style on techniques for cryostat design and fabrication - including heat-transfer design, selection of materials, construction, wiring, and thermometry, accompanied by many graphs, data, and clear examples. Part II gives a practical user’s perspective of sample mounting techniques and contact technology. Part III applies the information from Parts I and II to the measurement and analysis of superconductor critical currents, including in-depth measurement techniques and the latest developments in data analysis and scaling theory. The appendix is a ready reference handbook for cryostat design, encompassing seventy tables compiled from the contributions of experts and over fifty years of literature.

Jack Ekin
NIST
Div. 818.03
325 Broadway St.
Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Jack Ekin is a Research Physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, where his contributions have spanned a wide range of topics in low-temperature physics, including studies of fundamental conduction processes in normal metals, electro-mechanical properties of both high- and low-Tc superconductors, and interface conduction in thin films and nanostructures. He completed a B.S. degree at the University of Michigan, conducted his early graduate work in physics at the University of Heidelberg as a Fulbright Scholar, and received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University. Currently, he also holds an appointment as Lecturer at the University of Colorado. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He has published over 150 cryogenic research articles, textbook chapters, and patents, and has lectured and consulted internationally in the field of low-temperature measurements.