Magnetic Energy Materials

Our research aims at understanding the coupling between different degrees of freedom which give rise to phenomena such as the caloric and multicaloric effects, magnetoresistance, shape memory, etc, with the ultimate goal of engineering novel functional magnetic materials.

Caloric effects have an enormous potential for applications in room-temperature cooling due to the higher efficiency and environmentally friendliness. For example, magnetocaloric materials are considered as the most promising candidates for replacing the currently predominant vapor compression-based cooling technology.

However the physics behind the phenomena giving rise to these effects is poorly understood and the development of novel materials still relies on a trial and error approach. Therefore, in order to develop new and more efficient materials, fundamental understanding of the interplay between different degrees of freedom which give rise to phase transitions and the associated caloric effects needs to be gained in a fundamental level. Our objective is to probe materials presenting caloric effects in order to understand what makes these materials tick with the ultimate goal of making it possible to develop improved materials for applications.

Our "toolbox" includes:
- a number of synthesis techniques such as arc melting, ball milling, thin film growth, etc.;
- Various X-rays and neutron scattering techniques which allow us to follow the magnetic and structural evolution of caloric systems;
- pressure, temperature and magnetic field dependent measurements make it possible to trigger and follow phase transitions under the influence of diferent stimuli;
- in-field differential scanning calorimetry;
- high resolution transmission electron microscopy;

We are always open to collaborations and we are always keen on having talented scientists joining our group.
Please contact us with any questions you have.

Cartoon depicting a cooling cycle based on the different caloric effects which use the magnetic field H (magnetocaloric effect), electric field E (electrocaloric effect) and stress \sigma (mechanocaloric effect) to reversibly change the entropy of the refrigerant material.

Bachelor- and Masterthesis

We always have interesting topics for Bachelor- and Master-Theses within our research fields. Because science is moving on every day, please contact me directly via email (Luana Caron) to ask for the latest opportunities for bachelor's and master's theses.
Here, you can find the last presentation of the group's topics.

PhD and PostDoc positions

All open positions can be found here.

Vita

Luana Caron has a Bachelor and a Ph.D. in Physics from the State University of Campinas and has worked as a post doc researcher at the Reactor Institute Delft - Delft University of Technology, Angström Laboratory at Uppsala University and at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids. Since April 2018, Luana Caron is a Junior Professor at Bielefeld University as part of the Joint Lab BiBer of Bielefeld University and Helmholtz Center Berlin.
A list of publications can be found here:
ResearcherID
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Collaborative units

ForLab MagSens

is funded by the BMBF and dedicated to realize new magnetic sensor systems within an exceptional and stimulating research environment.

Material Digital DiProMag

is funded by the BMBF and dedicated to digitizing the development of magnetocaloric materials with ontologies and OTTR templates.