Enhanced Magnetic Cooling through Optimising Local Interactions
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
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People |
ORCID iD |
| Friedrich Grosche (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Gruner T
(2021)
Single Crystal Growth and Hydrostatic Pressure Study of Charge Density Wave Quantum Critical Lu(Pt 1- x Pd x ) 2 In
in Journal of the Physical Society of Japan
| Description | This project identified several materials that are comparatively simple and inexpensive and could be used as magnetocalorics for highly efficient refrigeration at low temperatures. The materials are particularly suitable in the temperature range 2K-25K, which is important because it is usually covered either by using liquid helium - an increasingly expensive resource - or by mechanical cryocoolers, which at those lower temperatures are less efficient. The materials may moreover be useful in achieving hydrogen liquefaction at scale. |
| Exploitation Route | The materials that have been identified in this project could be taken forward to building demonstrator refrigeration systems working at cryogenic temperatures, and ultimately may be applied in hydrogen liquefaction. |
| Sectors | Chemicals,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics,Energy |
| Title | Cryogenic refrigeration module for commercial cooling platform |
| Description | We have developed a cooling module that can be used inside the standard low temperature measurement platform 'Physical Properties Measurement System' (PPMS) by Quantum Design. The module will offer base temperatures of less than 100 mK with a hold time below 1 K of about 10 hours, far outperforming currently available commercial refrigeration modules. The module uses adiabatic demagnetisation cooling driven by the magnetic field provided by the PPMS. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The cooling module extends the useful temperature range of the standard PPMS platform by about a factor of 20 at little extra cost. There are hundreds of PPMS installed world-wide. It is the most popular commercial cooling platform currently available. The module in principle makes milli-Kelvin temperatures available to a large number of researchers who have otherwise little experience with low temperature physics. |
| Title | Metallic magnetocalorics for low temperature refrigeration |
| Description | We have identified intermetallic compounds which offer superior refrigeration performance for cryogenic applications. Moreover, we have developed methods for growing sizeable quantities of these materials from constituent elements, and we have designed, built and tested cooling modules which integrate several cooling stages to provide higher cooling power and lower base temperatures than commercially available alternatives. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The improved cooling performance has immediate impacts on research at low temperatures, but its main impact is expected to result from integrating the new cooling modules in applications which benefit from miniaturisation, such as satellite-born detectors or continuously-cooled multi-stage systems, or for which conventional refrigerants are unsuitable, such as techniques requiring UHV. Continuously-cooled multi-stage systems provide an attractive low temperature platform for upcoming solid-state based quantum technologies. |
| Description | Exchange of high quality materials for characterisation at low temperatures |
| Organisation | University of Kent |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have investigated thermodynamic properties in applied magnetic field of magnetic materials provided by collaborators at the University of Kent, in detailed and comprehensive low temperature measurements of the heat capacity and of the magnetocaloric effect. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have grown high quality samples of new magnetic materials, which hold significant promise as targeted magnetocalorics for low temperature cooling. |
| Impact | We have so far characterised three new materials and publications are being drafted. |
| Start Year | 2020 |