Vanadium Superconducting Heat Switch for Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigeration

Lead is the current baseline choice material for superconducting heat switches in Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerators at sub-1 Kelvin temperatures. A study of the material parameters of other candidate superconducting materials has shown that Vanadium has the potential to have more than 10 times better performance than Lead when implemented in a superconducting heat switch. However, Vanadium with very high purity is needed to realize this potential advantage. The proposed work will include the development of a purification procedure for Vanadium foils and experimental verification of the Residual Resistance Ratio after purification. Additionally, this work will include heat switch design with particular attention to field orientation relative to the heat flow in the Vanadium foil. Prototypes of candidate heat switch designs with Vanadium foils will be fabricated and tested for on-conductance and switching ratio performance.

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