My PhD was about development of new magnetocaloric materials for magnetic refrigeration.
During my course I have worked on various magnetic, thermal and electrical properties of Gadolinium Silicon Germanium.
I have investigated first order and second order magnetic-structural phase transition in these alloys and developed an advanced technique to estimate second order phase transition temperature when it is suppressed by the first order phase transition. Heat capacity measurements were also carried out at high and low magnetic fields at high and low temperatures.
Various XRD measurements were carried out to determine the lattice structure and I have also carried out back scattered Laue diffraction measurements to determine lattice orientation of the single crystal sample.
I have developed and experimentally verified a model to explain recovery in resistivity due to the annihilation of dislocations in these samples. Single crystal and polycrystalline samples were prepared in collaboration with Ames Laboratory, US and Birmingham University, UK respectively.