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The Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) instrument that flew on the Astro-H observatory was designed to perform imaging and spectroscopy of x-rays in the energy range of 0.2 to 13 keV with a resolution requirement of 7 eV or better. This was accomplished using a 6x6 array of x-ray microcalorimeters cooled to an operating temperature of 50 mK by an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR). The ADR consisted of three stages in order to operate using either a 1.2 K superfluid helium bath or a 4.5 K Joule-Thomson (JT) cryocooler as its heat sink. The design was based on the following operating strategy. After launch, while liquid helium was present (cryogen mode), two of the ADR’s stages would be used to single-shot cool the detectors, using the helium as a heat sink. When the helium was eventually depleted (cryogen-free mode), all three ADR stages would be used to continuously cool the helium tank to about 1.5 K, and to single-shot cool the detectors (to 50 mK), using the JT cryocooler as a heat sink. The Astro-H observatory, renamed Hitomi after its successful launch in February 2016, carried approximately 36 liters of helium into orbit. Based on measurements during ground testing, the average heat load on the helium was projected to be 0.66 mW, giving a lifetime of more than 4 years. On day 5, the helium had cooled to

A low cost low temperature broadband radiometer has been developed for use with low temperature tests as a diagnostic tool for measuring stray thermal radiation and remote measurement of material properties. So far these radiometers have been used in three large thermal/vacuum tests for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Project. In the first two tests the radiometers measured stray radiation in a test of part of the JWST sunshield, and in the third test the radiometers were used to measure the reflectivity and specularity of black ChemglazeTM Z307 painted aluminum walls on a 25 K cooled shroud. This paper will present the results of the reflectivity/specularity tests.

Titanium 15-3-3-3 and Kevlar 49 are highly desired materials for structural components in cryogenic applications due to their low thermal conductivity at low temperatures. Previous tests have indicated that titanium 15-3-3-3 becomes increasingly brittle as the temperature decreases. Furthermore, little is known regarding the mechanical properties of Kevlar 49 at low temperatures, most specifically its Young's modulus. This testing investigates the mechanical properties of both materials at cryogenic temperatures through cryogenic mechanical tensile testing to failure. The elongation, ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, and break strength of both materials are provided and analyzed here.

Polycrystal gadolinium lithium fluorides (GdLiF4=GLF) have been investigated as magnetic materials for an adiabatic demagnetization refrigeration (ADR) system operating at 4 K. Because of difficulties in growing a single crystal of GLF, a polycrystalline sample was fabricated and investigated. The relative density of the fabricated polycrystal was approximately 95%. The measured magnetization data for temperatures above 2 K showed typical paramagnetic behavior. The heat capacity was measured between 0.5 K and 10 K at various magnetic fields. The data suggest that a peak temperature relating to magnetic ordering will be found at a temperature lower than 0.5 K. The calculated entropy data show that the entropy change in GLF at magnetic fields greater than 2 T are 20% to 60% larger than those of a typical magnetic refrigerant GGG. We conclude that GLF will be one of the most suitable magnetic materials for a 4 K ADR.