| Experimentation with Type I and Type II superconductors is traditionally expensive because of the low temperatures involved. Because of this, any means that can be taken in order to decrease these costs is beneficial. The most crucial factors involved in decreasing costs are the efficient use of liquid helium by decreasing mass to be cooled, pre-cooling to have a lower temperature differential, and the insulating properties of the Dewar containing the helium.;An immersion cryostat was designed and constructed in order to conserve liquid helium with consideration of these factors. The immersion cryostat was designed so that it would fit inside a super insulated Cryofab CMSH — 60 commercial shipping container. This size constraint necessitated that a small mass and therefore small total heat capacity would be an inherent property of the design. By immersing the cryostat in the super insulated shipping Dewar, not only is the super insulation property of the Dewar utilized, but the losses in transferring the liquid helium are eliminated.;The immersion cryostat that was designed and constructed as a result of this endeavor will allow future researchers to conduct more experiments on cylindrical Josephson junctions than previously by conserving liquid helium. It is mechanically and electrically sound and will be used to test Josephson junctions. |
