Tunable resistivity in magnetic glass phase of Gd(1-x)Ca(x)BaCo2O5.5.

We present magnetization and resistance measurements carried out on pristine and Ca-doped Gd(1-x)Ca(x)BaCo2O5.5 (x = 0.02) samples using the cooling and heating in unequal field (CHUF) protocol. The measurements reveal that the high temperature ferromagnetic phase is kinetically arrested at low temperature when the sample is cooled in a magnetic field. The volume fraction of this arrested phase increases upon Ca substitution and also by increasing the field in which the sample is cooled. Since the ferromagnetic phase is less resistive when compared to the low temperature antiferromagnetic phase, a tunable resistance is achieved in the sample by cooling in different magnetic fields. By cooling in magnetic fields of 9 T a reduction in resistivity by an order of magnitude is achieved. These results are consistent with the coexistence of the low temperature equilibrium antiferromagnetic phase with kinetically arrested high temperature ferromagnetic phase in the system.

Development of high field SQUID magnetometer for magnetization studies up to 7 T and temperatures in the range from 4.2 to 300 K.

We present the design, fabrication, integration, testing, and calibration of a high field superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer. The system is based on dc SQUID sensor with flux locked loop readout electronics. The design is modular and all the subsystems have been fabricated in the form of separate modules in order to simplify the assembly and for ease of maintenance. A novel feature of the system is that the current induced in the pickup loop is distributed as inputs to two different SQUID sensors with different strengths of coupling in order to improve the dynamic range of the system. The SQUID magnetometer has been calibrated with yttrium iron garnet (YIG) sphere as a standard reference material. The calibration factor was determined by fitting the measured flux profile of the YIG sphere to that expected for a point dipole. Gd(2)O(3) was also used as another reference material for the calibration and the effective magnetic moment of the Gd(3+) could be evaluated from the temperature dependent magnetization measurements. The sensitivity of the system has been estimated to be about 10(-7) emu at low magnetic fields and about 10(-5) emu at high magnetic fields ∼7 T.

On the design and implementation of a novel impedance chamber based variable temperature regulator at liquid helium temperatures.

A novel variable temperature regulator (VTR) based on the use of a fine impedance capillary to control the flow rate of cold helium gas into the VTR chamber is described. The capillary has a diameter of just 200 microm and the flow rate of cold helium gas through the capillary can be effectively controlled to the desired value by heating the capillary to a preset temperature and by controlling the pressure in the VTR chamber to a preset pressure using automated control circuits. Excellent temperature stability (about +/-1 mK at 10 K and +/-2 mK at 100 K) has been demonstrated in this setup with uniform rates of heating or cooling by an optimal choice of parameters. Compared to the more conventional VTR designs based on the use of mechanical long stem valves in the liquid helium reservoir to control the flow rate of liquid helium into the VTR chamber, and the use of a needle valve at the top of the cryostat to control the exchange gas pressure in the thermal isolation chamber, the present design enables temperature stability at any user desired temperature to be attained with uniform rates of cooling/heating with minimum consumption of liquid helium. The VTR has been successfully incorporated in the high field superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer setup developed in-house. It can also be incorporated in any low temperature physical property measurement system in which the temperature has to be varied in a controlled manner from 4.2 to 300 K and vice versa with uniform rates of heating and cooling.