adiabatic demagnetization

adiabatic demagnetization [¦ad·ē·ə¦bad·ik ‚de‚mag·nəd·ə′zā·shən]

(cryogenics)

A method of cooling paramagnetic salts to temperatures of 10^-3K; the sample is cooled to the boiling point of helium in a strong magnetic field, thermally isolated, and then removed from the field to demagnetize it. Also known as Giaque-Debye method; magnetic cooling; paramagnetic cooling.

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Adiabatic demagnetization

The removal or diminution of a magnetic field applied to a magnetic substance when the latter has been thermally isolated from its surroundings. The process concerns paramagnetic substances almost exclusively, in which case a drop in temperature of the working substance is produced (magnetic cooling). See Paramagnetism

Nuclear magnetic moments are one or two thousand times smaller than their ionic (that is, electronic) counterparts, and the characteristic temperature of their mutual interaction lies in the microkelvin rather than millikelvin region. Successful experiments in nuclear adiabatic demagnetization date from the mid-1950s. See Absolute zero, Cryogenics, Low-temperature physics