Certain scientific equipment using liquid helium was suffering from a widespread and unknown problem, the blockage of a capillary used to pump liquid helium. At INMA, the culprit of these blockages was identified: sub-traces of molecular hydrogen present in the liquid helium. A two-stage purification technology (cryocondensation + chemisorption) was developed that removes the hydrogen very efficiently and is capable of producing ultra-high purity liquid helium (yi<10-14), which has solved the problem of impedance blockages.
At the same time, a simple and inexpensive detector for the presence of hydrogen in liquid helium has been developed, which makes it possible to detect the presence of hydrogen in liquid helium in a few minutes, thus protecting equipment sensitive to this impurity. Dozens of these detectors have been distributed to research institutes and laboratories all over the world.