Fixing a Superfluid Helium Leak

The vacuum leak in the dilution refrigerator used in our M-Echelle instrument turned out to be a superfluid helium leak, unrelated to the front window that we thought was the problem! In fact, the thermal shock from the helium leak is probably what caused the windows to crack in the previous videos. This is basically the worst case scenario, as it required us to tear down the experiment and perform the quantum physics equivalent of a heart transplant. Luckily, the manufacturer was great and sent us a new dilution unit AND sent out a technician to do the replacement on their dime. Watch as we repair M-Echelle to get it back in the game!

Mazin Lab videos show the inner working of an experimental astrophysics group that lives at the interface of astrophysics and quantum physics. We use our amazing quantum sensors called MKIDs to search for exoplanets around nearby stars. For more info, see http://mazinlab.org.

Edited by Nathan Thomas, UCSB Film and Media Studies

00:00 - Introduction
01:21 - Unboxing the replacement dilution unit
02:57 - Action plan
03:39 - Fiber optic removal
06:24 - De-cabling the mixing chamber
08:08 - Removing the para-amps
10:11 - Removing the device stage
11:24 - Removing the coax
18:27 - Conclusion