Thermal Conductivity of Single Molecule Magnets

Abstract

Single molecule magnets often abbreviated as SMMs are materials that demonstrate superparamagnetism below a certain temperature at the molecular scale. While superparamagnetism is (arguably) the defining feature of SMMs they have other important properties as well such as hysteresis (magnetic memory) and magnetic avalanche. Because of these properties in particular magnetic avalanche SMMs have interested physicists since their discovery in 1993. After investigating SMMs, physicists have determined that their unique properties have potential utility in both the search for Dark Matter as a low energy detector, and storing qubits for use in quantum computing. The most studied SMM sometimes referred to as the archetypal SMM is Mn12 acetate, often abbreviated as Mn12, it is the target of the methods developed in this paper due to the extensive research already done on Mn12 for applications already discussed. This paper will utilize a dilution fridge provided by Infrared laboratories inc. that can reach temperatures of 280mK, an SNSPD as a temperature sensor, as well as copper wires and a copper base. Where copper was chosen since it is a metal with known thermal conductivity that is often used in thermal conductivity experiments. In order to investigate the thermal conductivity of Mn12 at low temperatures where magnetic avalanches are possible this paper investigates SNSPDs in order to verify its utility as a temperature sensor. The point of this research is ultimately to better understand a material that will most likely be important in future technologies so that it can be utilized fully.