Leiden Cryogenics has built a prototype compact dilution refrigerator, dubbed Quper, that can achieve millikelvin temperatures.

Developed by the Dutch company in partnership with quantum chip testing startup Orange Quantum Systems (OrangeQS), the tabletop system has an inverted fridge design and can cool samples below 25 millikelvin before returning to room temperature in less than 24 hours.

The fridge can achieve these temperatures without the need for liquid nitrogen and with a significantly lower helium-3 requirement than traditional cryostats, the companies said in a statement.

The project was funded by Quantum Delta NL, an organization that is itself funded by the Dutch National Growth Fund. It took three years from conception to successfully build a prototype of Quper, with the fridge offering remote monitoring capabilities via OrangeQS’ open-source operating system, OrangeQS Juice, and SubZero cryogenic control software.

“Fast, compact, simple, but fully functional dilution refrigerators – be it for quantum chip testing and development, optical or beamline experiments, etc. – have been a popular request from our customers for many years, and now we are finally ready to fulfill it,” said Sasha Usenko, CTO, Leiden Cryogenics.

Existing cryostats can traditionally take more than 24 hours to warm up and cool down, with some systems taking multiple days. This can slow research and development efforts for technologies such as new quantum chips.