'Quantum fridge' gets close to absolute zero

NIST scientists have demonstrated a solid state refrigerator that sucks energy out of objects using a trick of quantum physics in which hot electrons tunnel through a one-way junction, carrying heat with them. It's been a long project: NIST first demonstrated the use of NIS (normal metal / insulator / superconductor) junctions …

[Neil Barnes]

Paging Maxwell! Mawell to the white courtesy phone!

We've found your demon.

[tony2heads]

maxwell's demon

but he's drunk

[Destroy All Monsters]

Re: maxwell's demon

Nah... this guy is using 700 pW / 1.9 cm³ of cooling power, so that can't be him.

[GitMeMyShootinIrons]

But - is it as cool as....

... The Fonz?

[Elmer Phud]

Re: But - is it as cool as....

Not now the sharks have lasers, no.

[I Like Heckling]

Re: But - is it as cool as....

But what if it's the Fonz jumping the sharks with frickin lasers on their heads?

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck that is very clever.....

I mean seriously...

The mind boggles.

There is so much clever shit going on, and there is such profound .............

The selective filtering of electrons... and pulling them and "the heat" with them.... out of a junction....

Accurately determining the size and surface spheroidal accuracy of electrons......

The Boson Higgs..... the HUGE nutrino detectors...

The Hobbit Telesccope

And on and on and and on it goes....

[Avatar of They]

Re: Fuck that is very clever.....

Who down voted you for basically saying science is cool (pun intended)

Personally I think I want one, but given the photo, could you rest a pint on the copper block and just use it that way?

[frank ly]

Operating conditions?

Am I right in assuming that this assembly is supposed to operate in a bath of liquid Helium, or similar arrangement? The figure of 700pW of (local?) cooling power is amazing when you consider the amount of heat that must flow into the copper block, even if it were immersed in very cold liquid Helium. Have I got this right?

[myob]

Re: Operating conditions?

It is likely to be operating in an more complicated/ even cooler system than liquid helium. The article says it cooled the copper block from 290 mK, which means they probably used a dilution refrigerator to get there, since liquid helium boils at around 4 K (-269 C).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilution_refrigerator.

[Gavin King]

Re: Operating conditions?

I would have though that this would be in a very high vacuum, which is perhaps cooled by a liquid helium device: I know the one that I've played with in the past gets quite easily to ~2.7 K with no trouble, and can be lower if you're both lucky and careful.

As it turns out, reading the paper itself, it is an Adiabatic Demagnetisation Refrigerator (ADR) that gets it from ~300K to ~300 mK. This is actually quite a cool method (excuse the pun), especially for one who has a bit of a background with cryogenic stuff. I won't bore you with the details, but NASA have a basic primer here:

http://cryo.gsfc.nasa.gov/introduction/ADR_intro/ADR_intro.html

and something a bit more technical here:

http://cryo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ADR/ADR_primer/ADR_primer.html

which, though a bit space orientated, show the general idea nicely.

The more interesting part I found was, that to disconnect the ADR once it got to 300 mK, they used what is essentially a piece of brass on a rope. I'd have though it would be far more complicated than that.

[Evil Auditor]

We need a new unit of measurement!

Will 1 Micropint fit in there?

[Fred Flintstone]

Beer fridges are boring

And to answer the question in the sub-head, yes, the device probably could cool your beer. It might cheaper and more convenient, however, to buy yourself a beer fridge.

Aww, come on. Where's the fun in that? The very genesis of hacking is to see what you can get away with for no other reason than that you (possibly) can (well, OK, there is actually a very good argument for it).

[LarsG]

Amazing technology but utterly useless for cooling a beer.

Now if they could invent the portable instant beer chiller........ That would be cool.

[Justin Stringfellow]

"They" did - google for "Huski" a pen-shaped device that was being patented a few years back. Dunno if it made it to market actually.

[jake]

@Lars G

Maybe not "instant", but if you spin a beer container longitudinally in ice without agitating it, it'll cool down from 75F to drinking temperature in a hurry (a couple minutes, in glass bottles). Faster if you salt the ice (under a minute in alumin(i)um cans). Note that you want the water to drain, actual ice contact is important.

Or, if you're not in a hurry & enjoy sillyness: http://www.asciimation.co.nz/beer/

[Piro]

Just buy "compressed air" cans

Obviously without any actual air in them, but regardless, hold the can upside down, spray beer can liberally.

[Anonymous Coward]

Pity this isn't on Herschel

Not sure how long this kit lasts, but what a pity Herschel's finite life may have been improved with this.

[Crisp]

Overclockers are rubbing their hands with glee

I'd worry about frost build up on the processor though.

[Michael Kean]

At last...

I knew we were due to invent the Reverse Cycle Microwave...

[AceRimmer1980]

This will go next to the DB9 fridge

for the LaFerrari.

[Andy The Hat]

Can cooler?

Come now folks, as a physicsy person I can state without fear of contradiction that it's obvious this thing will not cool your beer!

Well technically it could but I'd challenge anyone to detect a 40mK temperature difference between fractions of average pints in a pub ... for tis all the machine achieved ...

In fact the differential between bottom of the pint and the top is probably much more than a degree or so ... until you put your clammy mitts around it at which point it's warming massively and the convection currents increase.

[Silverburn]

printer ports?

I'm interested in why it's got what looks like old skool LPT printer ports on the right side. The mind boggles as to how near zero temperatures will make this print server(?) work any faster.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: printer ports?

Maybe the theory is it must make them go faster, since they couldn't possibly go any slower?

[Suricou Raven]

Re: printer ports?

I doubt there is a standard interface for a one-of-a-kind experimental quantum cooling device operating on a principle never before demonstrated. So they probably used whatever was lying around the laboratory parts bin.

[Grikath]

Re: printer ports?

Yup.. They may be obsolete in the IT world, but the good old connectors still do a stellar job whenever you want to hack/hook up stuff quickly.

[Brunnen-G]

Re: printer ports?

Upvoted from an old dot matrix printer driver programmer.

[Chris Miller]

Why would you want to chill beer?

Lagerboy

[Piro]

Re: Why would you want to chill beer?

It can be refreshing on a hot day, but in the main, if you can't drink it at room temperature, it's probably swill.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't chill your beer from time to time, though!

[Magani]

Re: Why would you want to chill beer?

"..., if you can't drink it at room temperature,..."

Presumably spoken by someone who's never lived in a place where room temperature can be 35°C or more.

I'll have my beer (and wine) chilled, thank you.

[Loyal Commenter]

Re: Why would you want to chill beer?

Because your beer should be at cellar temperature (12 - 14 centigrade), not room temperature. If you doubt this, I challenge you to drink a pint of cask ale that has been kept at an ambient (summer) temperature for a week or so and tell me how it tastes.

[tony]

Can't see the missus wanting that in the kitchen, she'll want something overpriced.

[Crisp]

It's not white for a start.

[Katie Saucey]

I wonder..

..if anyone has been double-dog-dared to stick their tongue on it yet

[johnwerneken]

Seems not long ago this was Science Fiction

Michael Flyyn's Firestar series has a main character of considerable wealth with a quantum frdge...20 years ago, about.

[mhenriday]

«When a voltage is applied across the sandwich,

the hottest electrons tunnel across the insulator into the superconductor. As they do make the journey, the electrons carry heat and vibrational energy with them.

So where's the quantum physics in that, you might ask.»

Naive as I am, I have always regarded «tunneling» itself as a quantum phenomenon. Are Richard and the Reg claiming that it can now be explained by classical, pre-20th century physics ?...

Henri

[Gannon (J.) Dick]

Scientists are different from you and I

BEER FRIDGE BREAK THROUGH !!!!!!

Uses quantum something something, whatever. El Reg drops Boffin Bomb, again. etc., etc., etc.