EAGER: CRYO: Thermomagnetic Refrigeration

EAGER：CRYO：热磁制冷

• 批准号: 2230352
• 负责人: Mona Zebarjadi
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: University of Virginia Main Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2230352&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; CRYO; Thermomagnetic; Refrigeration

This project is jointly supported by the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems and the Division of Materials Research.Many critical physics phenomena and phases are only observable and occur at ultra-low temperatures, below 1K. Futuristic quantum-based devices for applications in quantum computing, sensing, and communications are dependent upon ultra-low temperature physics. Advances in refrigeration technologies enabling sub-Kelvin refrigeration are therefore crucial to continue and expand our understanding of fundamental and applied physics. The current widely used refrigeration technology to achieve sub-Kelvin is based on the usage of the rare helium isotope, 3He. Given the projected shortage and the high price of liquid helium, it is crucial to develop alternative technologies enabling future sustainable quantum computing, sensing, and communications. Among potential solutions, solid-state technologies with no moving parts are attractive since they do not require maintenance. One of the solutions, which is the focus of this proposal, is the Nernst-Ettingshausen refrigeration. In addition to being fully solid-state, these refrigerators have an extremely simple design and are made out of a single material. The Nernst-Ettingshausen refrigeration refers to the observation of a developed temperature difference along the sample as a result of heat pumping when an electric field and a magnetic field are applied to a solid material, usually a semi-metal. Bismuth and its alloys with antimony are shown to be efficient thermomagnetic materials in the 50K-150K temperature range. The newly discovered quantum materials, the so-called topological semimetals, have the potential of extending the refrigeration operating temperature to ultra-low temperatures. Based on PI team's primarily developed first-principles module, this proposal includes studying the thermomagnetic properties of topological semimetals, theoretically with no fitting parameters, and using descriptors and machine learning to identify new thermomagnetic materials for sub-Kelvin refrigeration. The proposal envisions three major thrusts: (1) Identify materials with a large figure of merit at ultra-low temperatures, below 1K, (2) Experimentally characterize the thermomagnetic properties in the 2K-100K range, and (3) Build and test a proof-of-principle refrigerator prototype. The intellectual merit of the proposal is in the systematic studying of a large group of newly discovered materials, which is only possible due to recent advances in computational methods, including the team's recently developed first-principle-based code. Building and validating a complete theoretical-experimental set of tools to evaluate the potential of materials enables a fast pace in the discovery of materials' unique properties.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目由化学，生物工程，环境和运输系统以及材料研究司共同支持。许多关键的物理现象和相位仅可观察到，并且在1K以下的超低温度下发生。用于量子计算，传感和通信应用程序应用的未来派量子设备取决于超低温度物理。因此，使子凯文制冷的制冷技术的进步对于继续和扩展我们对基本和应用物理学的理解至关重要。当前使用广泛使用的制冷技术来实现子凯文，是基于稀有氦同位素3HE的使用。鉴于预计的短缺和液态氦气的高价，开发替代技术至关重要，以实现未来的可持续量子计算，传感和通信。 在潜在的解决方案中，没有运动部件的固态技术很有吸引力，因为它们不需要维护。该提案的重点之一是纳斯特·埃特辛斯豪森（Nernst-Ettingshausen）制冷。除了完全固态外，这些冰箱还具有非常简单的设计，并且是由单个材料制成的。 Nernst-Ettingshausen制冷是指由于电场和磁场应用于固体材料时，通常是在样品中观察到的温度差，通常是半金属。在50k-150k温度范围内，晶晶及其具有锑的合金被证明是有效的热磁材料。新发现的量子材料，即所谓的拓扑半学，具有将制冷工作温度扩展到超低温度的潜力。基于PI团队主要开发的第一原理模块，该建议包括研究拓扑半学的热磁性特性，理论上没有拟合参数，并使用描述符和机器学习来识别用于亚kelvin重合的新热磁材料。该提案设想了三个主要的推力：（1）在超低温度下，低于1k，（2）实验表征2K-100K范围内的热磁特性的材料，并在2K-100K范围内进行实验表征；该提案的智力优点在于系统地研究一大批新发现的材料，这仅是由于计算方法的最新进展，包括该团队最近开发的基于第一原则的代码。 建立和验证一套完整的理论实验性工具来评估材料的潜力，可以在发现材料的独特属性方面快速发展。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准通过评估来获得支持。

项目成果

First-principles-aided evaluation of the Nernst coefficient beyond the constant relaxation time approximation

• DOI: 10.1016/j.commatsci.2023.112193
• 发表时间: 2023-06
• 期刊: Computational Materials Science
• 影响因子: 3.3
• 作者: S. E. Rezaei;M. Zebarjadi;K. Esfarjani