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Magnetic cooling using a frustrated desert mineral (atacamite)
Natural crystals fascinate with their vibrant colors, their nearly flawless appearance and their manifold symmetrical forms. But researchers are interested in them for quite different reasons: amo ...
“The distinct feature of atacamite is the arrangement of the copper ions,” explains Dr. Leonie Heinze of Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS). This is because, instead of compressing and expanding a coolant – a process that takes place in every refrigerator – they can be used to change the temperature by applying a magnetic field in an environmentally friendly and potentially low-loss approach. B. Wolter, H. Kühne, J. Wosnitza, C. Karrasch, S. Süllow, Atacamite Cu₂Cl(OH)₃ in High Magnetic Fields: Quantum Criticality and Dimensional Reduction of a Sawtooth-Chain Compound, in Physical Review Letters, 2025
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