Conduction Effect of Thermal Radiation in a Metal Shield Pipe in a Cryostat for a Cryogenic Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detector

TL;DR

This paper investigates the unexpectedly high heat load due to thermal radiation conduction in a metal shield pipe within a cryostat for a gravitational wave detector, combining simulation and experimental analysis.

Contribution

It reveals that thermal radiation conduction significantly increases heat load, exceeding Stefan-Boltzmann law predictions, and provides insights into mitigating this effect in cryogenic systems.

Findings

Heat load was about 1000 times larger than Stefan-Boltzmann law estimates.

Thermal radiation conduction in metal pipes is a major heat transfer mechanism.

Simulation and experiments confirmed the conduction effect as the cause.

Abstract

A large heat load caused by thermal radiation through a metal shield pipe was observed in a cooling test of a cryostat for a prototype of a cryogenic interferometric gravitational wave detector. The heat load was approximately 1000 times larger than the value calculated by the Stefan-Boltzmann law. We studied this phenomenon by simulation and experiment and found that it was caused by the conduction of thermal radiation in a metal shield pipe.