Leading Since 2020: ProteoxMX with Patented Side-Loading Secondary Insert

5 February 2026

While others are just introducing side-loading wiring, Quantum Design Oxford has been delivering full experimental loading capability since 2020 as a core concept of our ProteoxMX system, pioneering the use of Secondary Inserts.

Our Product Manager for Quantum Technologies, Tessa Dale, and Senior Technical Sales Engineer, Dr Gustav Teleberg, walk you through the reasons why this solution gives major advantages for your ultra-low temperature research.

Designed For Your Whole Experiment – Not Just The Wiring

Our secondary insert is not only large enough to support high wiring capacity and a wide range of experimental setups for advanced quantum research, critically, but it also reaches the central axis of the ProteoxMX.

This means that while you are developing your experiment, including sample holders, wiring and filtering, you can do so entirely off system on the lab bench, because the Proteox Secondary Insert carries your whole experiment from room temperature connections to the sample.

For example, if you are using a bottom-loading sample exchange with sample puck, say with an integrated superconducting magnet, the Secondary Insert not only carries your experimental wiring from room temperature to millikelvin at the mixing chamber plate – it holds the complete bottom-loading sample puck dock so that you have complete access to your total signal chain on and off the Proteox dilution refrigerator, allowing you to do full bench-testing before taking it to millikelvin temperatures.

If you are making optical measurements needing a free-space, line-of-sight path to your sample, this also means the Secondary Insert itself can contain a complete optical path down the sample and the field centre of a magnet, making it easier to align magneto-optical setups accurately on the bench before transferring to the dilution refrigerator as a whole.

Faster, Easier Installation and Upgradeability

Designed for efficiency, our Secondary Insert technology allows rapid installation and removal of experimental modules – streamlining workflows and reducing downtime so your team can focus on the science, rather than the setup.

When it comes to upgrading and servicing your experiment, Proteox Secondary Inserts greatly simplify the removal and re-installation of signal chain components such as coaxial lines and cold electronics, which can all be removed as a unit and worked on away from the system.

Capacity and Flexibility of Wiring

The large 252 x 117 mm size allows for up to two ISO100 ports and includes built in SMA connector arrays to allow for all your wiring needs. We work with customers to design and build wiring solutions tailored for your experiment, straight from the factory.

Straightforward Handling Thanks to Patented Innovation

Our side-loading Secondary Insert uses a patented self-supporting design, which means users can easily handle the system without needing complicated and expensive jigging, or worrying about transporting it between work bench and the Proteox system.

Read more about our Secondary Insert patent:  EP4088068B1 – Cryogenic cooling system – Google Patents

Scaling Potential for Quantum Computing

Working on a quantum computing scale-up? Watch this space...! In a future blog, we will explore how the Proteox secondary insert is the ideal solution for commercial scale-up in the quantum computing space, supporting your development roadmap and scaling through its interchangeability across ProteoxMX, LX and QX platforms.

We've been setting the standard since 2020.
ProteoxMX:  Proven. Flexible. Future-ready.