Room Temperature System
In order to minimise the effect of temperature fluctuations to magneto-resistance measurements, I have devised a room temperature vacuum chamber with accurate Peltier temperature control. Images and further description to come.
In spintronics, many experiments determine physics properties by measuring resistance changes in a device. For most groups, the devices are tested at cryogenic temperatures because of the low Curie and Néel temperatures of the materials. For the UoN Spintronics group, the devices under question are CuMnAs thin films which are antiferromagnetic at room temperature and so many experiments are done without the aid of cryostats and therefore without temperature control. Typically these devices degrade through oxidation if left in atmosphere. I was tasked with designing a vacuum system with very stable temperature control at around room temperature over the summer between my Masters and PhD. I was given a brief and decided that, for our system and parameters (thermal load etc.), a 20W Peltier device would be more than capable of keeping the device at a stable temperature and just had to design some way to achieve heatsinking while maintaining a vacuum tight seal.