The HAWC and SAFIRE adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators

摘要

High-resolution airborne wide-band camera (HAWC) and sub-millimeter and far-infrared experiment (SAFIRE) are far-infrared experiments which will fly on the stratospheric observatory for infrared astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft. HAWC's detectors will operate at 0.2 K, while those of SAFIRE will be at 0.1 K. Each instrument will include an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) to cool its detector stage from the liquid helium bath temperature (HAWC's at 4.2 K and SAFIRE's pumped to about 1.3 K) to its operating temperature. Except for the magnets used to achieve the cooling, the magnetic shielding, and a slight difference in the heat switch design, the two ADRs are identical. We describe the ARD design and present the results of performance testing. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.