Artistic representation of the magnetic sawtooth structure of atacamite (IMAGE)

Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Artistic representation of the magnetic sawtooth structure of atacamite

Caption

Artistic representation of the magnetic sawtooth structure of atacamite: The magnetic moments (green) of the Cu ions (white and blue) cannot be completely aligned antiparallel to each other due to the triangular arrangement. At low temperatures, this results in the compromise arrangement shown. An external magnetic field destroys it and leads to an unexpectedly strong magnetocaloric effect, which could be used for efficient cooling.

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B. Schröder/HZDR

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