Chinese scientists create world’s coldest alloy. It may surprise DARPA

2026.03.17 07:20 Chinese researchers have unveiled a new rare earth alloy so cold and efficient it could send shock waves through the global race for quantum computers or ultra-sensitive detectors. Photo: Shutterstock Chinese researchers have unveiled a new rare earth alloy so cold and efficient it could upend decades of reliance on helium-3 and send shock waves through the global race for quantum computers or ultra-sensitive detectors. A mini-fridge built with the alloy has achieved temperatures extremely close to absolute zero using no moving parts. And it comes at a time when the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is actively hunting for exactly such a technology. On January 27, DARPA issued an urgent call for proposals: develop a modular, helium-3-free cooling system for next-generation quantum and defence technologies. Less than two weeks later, the Chinese scientists answered – with a paper published in Nature. The alloy “has the potential for mass production. The joint team has recently successfully developed a pure metal refrigeration module based on this alloy material,” the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said on its website on February 13. “This highly efficient cooling module could offer a stable, portable cooling source for quantum chips and support major space exploration projects with a self-reliant refrigeration system. “It marks a ‘China solution’ that ends dependence on helium-3.” In physics, the lowest possible temperature is 0 Kelvin, or minus 273.15 degrees Celsius (minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit), a state known as “absolute zero”. As materials approach this temperature, they exhibit radically different properties: liquid helium loses friction, mercury becomes superconductive and much cutting-edge quantum research becomes possible. Currently, achieving such extreme low temperature primarily relies on a technique called dilution refrigeration, which requires helium-3. This stable isotope of helium is an essential resource tha

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