The Space Research Centre’s purpose built Low Temperature Laboratory is in Phase Two of the Michael Atiyah Building. The laboratory floor has two “pits” to house low-temperature cryostats which require unusual overhead clearance. with multiple overhead crane access. The pits incorporate vibration isolation features to reduce the effects of micro phonic noise. One pit is circular, 1.0 m in diameter by 1.48 m deep and the second is rectangular, 1.38 m x 2.98 m x 0.49 m deep. The laboratory’s safety features include an extraction fan system and multiple oxygen level sensors with suitable alarms.

The lab is home to a number of low temperature systems:

1. an Oxford Instruments Kelvinox 100 helium dilution refrigerator, with a side-arm entry port which allows it to be coupled to an X-ray detector calibration beamline, instead of being limited to the small number of energies from electron capture radioactive sources placed actually in the cold volume.. The base temperature of the Kelvinox 100 is about ~10mK.
2. a test dewar with a nominal bore of 0.25 m x 1.4 m deep which is suitable for both liquid nitrogen (77 K) and liquid helium (4.2 K) operations. This facility allows the experimenters (o commercial users) easy access to a low temperature immersion system for research / test / experiment package qualification before committing to fridge mounting.
3. the cryogen free Oxford Instruments Heliox AC-V System which provides ~300 mK base temperature for 48 hours before replenishing is necessary.

They are housed and operated within the facility, where the research and commercial activities are currently carried out. This is a new area of research at the University of Leicester using Superconducting Tunnel Junction (STJ) devices.

A small bench helium cryostat (4.2K) completes the equipment suite.