Day 2 the liquid helium arrived. This can't be handled like liquid nitrogen in flasks and pots, it needs to be applied directly from the central storage canister. The specialist (long) tubing to direct and apply the liquid helium down to the pot was a US$5,000 investment alone! It has its own valve to control the amount of liquid applied, but to generate the pressure to force it out the cryogenic canister, another compressed Helium bottle was used to push the liquid through. The combination of pressure and quantity of liquid Helium had to be balanced to keep the extreme temp stable.
