A compact capacitive dilatometer for thermal expansion and magnetostriction measurements at millikelvin temperatures

• Published in: Cryogenics (Guildford) Vol. 52; no. 10; pp. 452 - 456
• Main Authors: Abe, Satoshi, Sasaki, Fumishi, Oonishi, Takanobu, Inoue, Daiki, Yoshida, Jun, Takahashi, Daisuke, Tsujii, Hiroyuki, Suzuki, Haruhiko, Matsumoto, Koichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Capacitance bridge; Capacitance bridges; Capacitive dilatometer; Copper compounds; Cryogenics; Dilatometers; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Integrated circuits; Low temperatures; Magnetostriction; Refrigerating engineering. Cryogenics. Food conservation; Stability; Thermal expansion; Thermal expansion; Magnetostriction; Capacitance bridge; Low temperatures; Capacitive dilatometer; Stability; Cryogenics; Capacitance; Measurement method; Copper; Magnetic field; Low temperature
• ISSN: 0011-2275; 1879-2235
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cryogenics.2012.04.008

► We reported the design and construction of a capacitive dilatometer. ► We improved the capacitance bridge for high stability measurements. ► Thermal expansion and magnetostriction were measured. ► Measurements were performed down to millikelvin temperatures. ► The temperature- and field-dependent cell effect of dilatometer was determined. We describe a compact capacitive dilatometer for measuring thermal expansion and magnetostriction below 1K using a home-made capacitance bridge with long-term stability of ΔC/C∼1.6×10−7. We measured the thermal expansion and magnetostriction of a heavy-Fermion compound CeRu2Si2 and those of a standard copper sample to clarify the dilatometer cell effect. The temperature-dependent cell effect of our dilatometer, ΔL/L, was less than 10−8 below 0.2K. The magnetic-field-dependent cell effect was not observed below 52.6mT at 85mK, and was less than −2×10−9 up to 10T at 4.2K. Our dilatometer provides precise thermal expansion and magnetostriction measurements at millikelvin temperatures.