Thermal processes in anisotropic metal complexes induced by non-adiabatic switching of magnetic field

Abstract

In this article we analyze the thermal processes in magnetically anisotropic metal complexes under the action of non-adiabatic switching of magnetic field. Using the non-stationary perturbation theory for the case of sudden perturbation, we show that this field can cause not only heat release, but also heat absorption, interconnected with the axial zero field splitting (parameter D) in a paramagnetic metal complex. As an illustrative example we consider the simplest S = 1-complexes having “easy axis” and “easy plane” types of anisotropy influenced by the magnetic field that is suddenly turned off. We demonstrate that the character of the thermal processes (heat dissipation or absorption) depends on the sign of D and direction of applied field and so the analysis of these processes can be in principle used as a complementary tool (in addition to SQIUD magnetometry, EPR spectroscopy and INS) for studying magnetic anisotropy. The conditions under which the non-adiabatic switching of the magnetic field gives rise to the heat absorption are revealed. This unusual phenomenon, which can be called “nonadiabatic field switching cooling”, may have practical applications.