In July 2015, ANSTO took delivery of a new 9-T Physical Properties Measurement System, from Quantum Designs in the USA. The system includes a vibrating-sample magnetometer, AC susceptibility, heat capacity and resistivity measurement capability.
While the system has been procured primarily for ANSTO’s own internal research needs, it will be also available to external users, in conjunction with neutron experiments on the OPAL instruments, through the regular proposal system.
Applications
Our main interest in procuring a physical properties measurement system is to complement the magnetic diffraction, reflectometry and inelastic scattering that we perform on the OPAL instrument suite, and to have the capability in Australia to study radioactive materials (e.g. technetium compounds) with the methods offered in the system.
These days, in order to publish on interesting magnetic materials, it is almost essential to have bulk susceptibility and/or magnetisation data, along with the neutron data.
We expect to use the system for bulk polycrystalline and single-crystal samples, and also for films and multilayers.
