Uses
Pulse tube cryocoolers are used in industrial applications such as semiconductor fabrication and in military applications such as for the cooling of infrared sensors. Pulse tubes are also being developed for cooling of astronomical detectors where liquid cryogens are typically used, such as the Atacama Cosmology Telescope or the QUBIC experiment (an interferometer for cosmology studies). PTR's are used as precoolers of dilution refrigerators. Pulse tubes will be particularly useful in space-based telescopes where it is not possible to replenish the cryogens as they are depleted. It has also been suggested that pulse tubes could be used to liquefy oxygen on Mars.
Read more about this topic: Pulse Tube Refrigerator