The modern PTR was invented by Mikulin by introducing orifice in Basic pulse tube in 1984. He reached a temperature of 105 K. Soon after that, PTRs became better due to the invention of new variations. This is shown in figure 3, where the lowest temperature for PTRs is plotted as a function of time. At the moment, the lowest temperature is below the boiling point of helium (4.2 K). Originally this was considered to be impossible. For some time it looked as if it would be impossible to cool below the lambda point of 4He (2.17 K), but the Low-Temperature group of the Eindhoven University of Technology managed to cool to a temperature of 1.73 K by replacing the usual 4He as refrigerant by its rare isotope 3He. Later this record was broken by the Giessen Group that managed to get even below 1.3 K. In a collaboration between the groups from Giessen and Eindhoven a temperature of 1.2 K was reached by combining a PTR with a superfluid vortex cooler. For getting the cooling, the source of the pressure variations is unimportant. PTRs for temperatures below 20 K usually operate at frequencies of 1 to 2 Hz and with pressure variations from 10 to 25 bar. The swept volume of the compressor would be very high (up to one liter and more). Therefore, the compressor is uncoupled from the cooler. A system of valves (usually a rotating valve) alternatingly connects the high-pressure and the low-pressure side of the compressor to the hot end of the regenerator. As the high-temperature part of this type of PTR is the same as of GM-coolers this type of PTR is called a GM-type PTR. The gas flows through the valves are accompanied by losses which are absent in the Stirling-type PTR. PTRs can be classified according to their shape. If the regenerator and the tube are in line (as in fig. 1) we talk about a linear PTR. The disadvantage of the linear PTR is that the cold spot is in the middle of the cooler. For many applications it is preferable that the cooling is produced at the end of the cooler. By bending the PTR we get a U-shaped cooler. Both hot ends can be mounted on the flange of the vacuum chamber at room temperature. This is the most common shape of PTRs. For some applications it is preferable to have a cylindrical geometry.