Oxford Cryosystems

An Oxfordshire company that makes the Cryostream, a cooler that holds crystals at very low temperatures for X-ray study, plus cryocoolers for research.

About Oxford Cryosystems

Oxford Cryosystems makes cooling equipment for science. Its best-known product is the Cryostream, a device that blows a thin stream of very cold gas onto a tiny crystal so that it can be studied with X-rays without being damaged. This matters in chemistry, materials science and the study of proteins. The company also makes flat-plate chambers for powder diffraction, closed-cycle cryostats and GM cryocoolers, which are compact machines that cool without a supply of liquid gas and are used in X-ray equipment, radio astronomy and superconducting magnets. It describes itself as "a world leader in cryogenic solutions for scientific applications".

The business began in Oxford in the mid-1980s. According to an account in the International Union of Crystallography newsletter, John Cosier, a cryogenics engineer at the Clarendon Laboratory, and a university physics researcher built the first units in a basement of the Old Physiology Department. The first customer paid in advance, and the name Cryostream was Mr Cosier's. Its first product launched in 1985, and the company says its devices have been cited in more than 5,400 scientific papers. We found no written mission statement beyond its description of itself as a world leader.

In the UK, one directory places the company at Hanborough House, Long Hanborough Business Park, near Witney in Oxfordshire. A government supplier listing for Oxford Cryosystems Limited, company number 00788353, shows a registered office in Borough High Street, London, so the two sources differ and the Oxfordshire site is where the equipment is described as being built. Its customers are universities and research institutes, and the company is part of the British Cryogenics Council's member network.

We found nothing published about staff numbers, leadership today or working culture, so we have not described any. What the history does show is a company that started with a research scientist and an engineer solving a lab problem and then found customers all over the world through word of mouth, including a German instrument maker that became a distribution partner.

The jobs in a business like this are in engineering and science support: mechanical and cryogenic design, electronics and control, assembly and testing, applications scientists who help crystallographers get good data, and sales, finance and operations. Physics, chemistry and engineering are common backgrounds. Its link to quantum technology is indirect, through cryocoolers and low-temperature equipment, so treat it as an enabling supplier rather than a quantum company. Check the company's website for current vacancies.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Open-flow cold gas coolers that hold crystals at low temperature for X-ray diffraction.', 'title': 'Cryostream coolers'}
• {'desc': 'Cryogen-free cooling chambers for powder diffraction and other measurements.', 'title': 'Closed-cycle cryostats'}
• {'desc': 'Mechanical coolers for X-ray cryostats, radio astronomy and superconducting magnets.', 'title': 'GM cryocoolers'}

Key facts

• First product, the Cryostream cooler, launched in 1985
• Devices cited in more than 5,400 scientific publications (company claim)
• UK company number 00788353; Oxfordshire base near Witney (directory entry)
• Started in a basement of the Old Physiology Department in Oxford

Website: www.oxcryo.com