Very low friction rotator for use at low temperatures and high magnetic fields

Abstract

We report the development of a sample rotating stage for use in a dilution refrigerator. The rotator makes use of bearings made from commercially available sapphire vee jewels and matching pivots that have extremely low coefficients of friction. This rotator allows continuous rotations through 360° at low temperatures (30 mK) and high magnetic fields (20 T) with negligible sample heating. Rotations at rates less than 0.33 deg/s resulted in less than 50 μW of dissipated power. Rotations at rates of 4.4 deg/s resulted in 383 μW of heat dissipated. In addition, the rotator is capable of making rotations with a resolution as small as 0.020°. © 1999 American Institute of Physics.