New measurement method for investigating properties

Quantum physics New measurement method for temperature differences in the microkelvin range

2024-01-19 Source: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin | Translated by AI 1 min Reading Time

There are still many unanswered questions about quantum materials and their special properties. To better understand them, researchers have now developed a new measurement method.

For the new sample rod with sample holder, the HZB team has developed several innovations that suppress noise and enable temperature measurements with extreme precision.(Image: D. Kojda/HZB) — For the new sample rod with sample holder, the HZB team has developed several innovations that suppress noise and enable temperature measurements with extreme precision.
(Image: D. Kojda/HZB)

Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) have developed a new measurement method to detect minuscule temperature differences in the range of 100 microkelvin in the thermal Hall effect. According to an announcement, this effect provides information about coherent many-particle states in quantum materials and utilizes their interaction with lattice vibrations. These temperature differences could not previously be quantitatively measured due to thermal noise. The goal of the researchers is to better understand quantum materials to take advantage of their exotic states. This way, data could be stored or processed in the future with only minimal energy requirements.

The thermal Hall effect (THE) plays a key role in identifying exotic states in condensed matter, it is further stated. It involves a minuscule heat difference. For typical millimeter-sized samples, they are in the range of microkelvin to millikelvin. Until now, it has been difficult to experimentally capture these heat differences because the heat introduced by measurement electronics and sensors overshadowed the effect, according to the researchers.

For this purpose, they developed a novel sample rod with a modular setup that can be inserted into different cryomagnets. The sample head holds the sample and measures the thermal Hall effect using capacitive thermometry. With this setup, the experts succeeded in significantly reducing heat transfer through sensors and electronics and dampening interference signals and noise. In the next step, the researchers want to use this technology to investigate topological properties of lattice vibrations in quantum materials. They are exploring why electrically neutral quasiparticles in non-magnetic insulators are deflected in a magnetic field in ion crystals.

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