Development of high-performance cryocoolers capable of operating from 120 K down to 5 mK

Abstract This paper presents a review of the recent development of a variety of high-performance cryocoolers developed in the authors’ laboratory operating from 120 K down to 5 mK. Above 1.0 K, these cryocoolers involve regenerative or recuperative cycles, or employ the hybrid cycle formed by the above two ones. For the regenerative cycle, the study is focused on the Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler (SPTC) which covers 2.2–120 K and is used to cool either infrared detectors or superconducting facilities. The hybrid cryocooler, typically composed of the recuperative J-T cooler precooled by the regenerative multi-stage SPTC. With a base temperature of 1.36 K, it is used to cool the superconducting nanowire single photon detector used in the optical quantum computers. The cryogen-free dilution refrigerator is a rising development focus in the laboratory, which aims to achieve a base temperature of 5 mK and the typical cooling powers varying from 400 μW to 1.3 mW at 100 mK for cooling the chips in the superconducting quantum computers. The application background and optimization approaches of the cryocoolers are described and summarized, and then the performance characteristics are presented and discussed.