Pulse-tube refrigerators: principle, recent developments, and prospects

Cryocoolers without moving parts at low temperatures have many advantages: there is no need for a liquid-helium bath cryostat with its infrastructure, the cost can be lour, the reliability high, there are low mechanical vibra tions, and the magnetic interferences are small. In recent pears, there has been a rapid development in these cryocoolers, especially in the field of pulse-tube cooling. In this contribution the thermodynamics and hydrodynami cs of pulse-tube refrigeration will be explained. The recent developments i n this held win be described. Finally, we will discuss the impact, these de velopments may have on the future of low-temperature research and its appli cations and what is left to be done to realise that. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scie nce B.V. All rights reserved.