Vibration spectrum of a pulse-tube cryostat from 1 Hz to 20 kHz Original Research Article

The vibrations of the cold finger of a low-vibration helium pulse-tube cryostat are measured from 1 Hz to 20 kHz using an optical interferometer specially designed to measure small amplitude vibrations at high frequencies in the presence of large vibrations at lower frequencies. While the vibrational amplitude is dominated by the contribution at the fundamental compressor frequency of 1.4 Hz, the pulse tube contributes mechanical noise at frequencies up to 15 kHz, where the spectral density is measured to be 4 × 10−12 m/Hz1/2. Root-mean-squared vibration amplitudes of 5.2 μm and 3 μm are measured along perpendicular axes in the horizontal plane, and 1.0 μm in the vertical direction. The effect of a suspended sample holder for the purpose of attenuating high-frequency vibrations is evaluated. Finally, the cryostat is shown to be considerably noisier than typical laboratory floors.