We have developed a new micro-fabricated platform for the measurement of the specific heat of low heat capacity mg-sized metallic samples, such as superconductors, down to temperatures of as low as 10 mK. It addresses challenging aspects of setups of this kind such as the thermal contact between the sample and platform, the thermometer resolution, and an addenda heat capacity exceeding that of the samples of interest (typically nJ/K at 20 mK). The setup allows us to use the relaxation method, where the thermal relaxation following a well defined heat pulse is monitored to extract the specific heat. The sample platform (5 × 5 mm2) includes a micro-structured paramagnetic Ag:Er temperature sensor, which is read out by a dc-superconducting quantum interference device via a superconducting flux transformer. In this way, a relative temperature precision of 30 nK/Hz can be reached, while the addenda heat capacity falls well below 0.5 nJ/K for T < 300 mK. A gold-coated mounting area (4.4 × 3 mm2) is included to improve the thermal contact between the sample and platform.

In recent years, current-sensing dc-SQUIDs have enabled the application of noise thermometry at ultralow temperatures. A major advantage of noise thermometry is the fact that no driving current is needed to operate the device and thus the heat dissipation within the thermometer can be reduced to a minimum. Such devices can be used either in primary or relative primary mode and cover typically several orders of magnitude in temperature extending into the low microkelvin regime. Here we will review recent advances of noise thermometry for ultralow temperatures.

The options for primary thermometry at ultra-low temperatures are rather limited. In practice, most laboratories are using (195)Pt NMR thermometers in the microkelvin range. In recent years, current sensing direct current superconducting quantum interference devices (DC-SQUIDs) have enabled the use of noise thermometry in this temperature range. Such devices have also demonstrated the potential for primary thermometry. One major advantage of noise thermometry is the fact that no driving current is needed to operate the device and thus the heat dissipation within the thermometer can be reduced to a minimum. Ultimately, the intrinsic power dissipation is given by the negligible back action of the readout SQUID. For thermometry in low-temperature experiments, current noise thermometers and magnetic flux fluctuation thermometers have proved to be most suitable. To make use of such thermometers at ultra-low temperatures, we have developed a cross-correlation technique that reduces the amplifier noise contribution to a negligible value. For this, the magnetic flux fluctuations caused by the Brownian motion of the electrons in our noise source are measured inductively by two DC-SQUID magnetometers simultaneously and the signals from these two channels are cross-correlated. Experimentally, we have characterized a thermometer made of a cold-worked high-purity copper cylinder with a diameter of 5 mm and a length of 20 mm for temperatures between 42 μK and 0.8 K. For a given temperature, a measuring time below 1 min is sufficient to reach a precision of better than 1%. The extremely low power dissipation in the thermometer allows continuous operation without heating effects.

The universal behaviour of amorphous solids at low temperatures, governed by atomic tunneling systems as described by the standard tunneling model, has long been a generally accepted fact. In the last years, however, measurements of dielectric two-pulse polarization echoes have revealed that nuclear quadrupole moments involved in atomic tunneling systems can cause specific material-dependent effects in magnetic fields. We have performed measurements of the dielectric properties of the two multicomponent glasses N-KZES11 and HY-1, containing several percent of tantalum oxide and holmium oxide respectively. As Ta-181 and Ho-165 both carry very large nuclear quadrupole moments, these glasses are ideal candidates to study the influence of nuclear quadrupole moments on the properties of glasses at very low temperatures. Our measurements not only show unique dielectric behaviour in both glasses, but also differ significantly from various predictions of the standard tunneling model.

Due to its non-driven nature, noise thermometry intrinsically is the method of choice when minimal heat input during the temperature measurement is required. Our noise thermometer, experimentally characterized for temperatures between 42 K and 0.8 K, is a magnetic Johnson noise thermometer. The noise source is a cold-worked high purity copper cylinder, 5 mm in diameter and 20 mm long. The magnetic flux fluctuations generated by the electrons' Brownian motion is measured inductively by two dc-SQUID magnetometers simultaneously. Cross-correlation of the two channels leads to reduction of parasitic noise by more than one order of magnitude which allows for measuring the tiny noise powers at microkelvin temperatures.

We present a contact free cross-correlation noise thermometer experimentally characterized for temperatures between 0.8 K and 45 μK. The noise source is a cold-worked copper cylinder. The fluctuations of magnetic fields due to the thermal motion of the electrons in the copper cylinder are simultaneously monitored by two superconducting quantum interference device magnetometers. A subsequent cross-correlation of both channels reduces the noise contribution of the amplifiers by more than one order of magnitude. This technique covers almost five orders of magnitude in temperature including ultra low temperatures, which were accessible only by platinum nuclear magnetic resonance thermometers so far.

Weak interactions break time-reversal (T) symmetry in the two-state system of neutral K-mesons. We present and discuss a two-state mechanical system, i.e. a Foucault-type pendulum on a rotating table, for a full representation of K-0(K) over bar (0) transitions by the pendulum motions including T violation. The pendulum moves with two different oscillation frequencies and two different magnetic dampings. Its equation of motion is identical to the differential equation for the real part of the CPT-symmetric K-meson wavefunction. The pendulum is able to represent microscopic CP and T violation with CPT symmetry owing to the macroscopic Coriolis force, which breaks the symmetry under reversal-of-motion. Video clips of the pendulum motions are given as supplementary material.

We show frequency-dependent dielectric permittivity and dielectric polarization fluctuation measurements of liquid and glassy glycerol. This allows a direct comparison of both quantities determined independently. After cooling the glycerol sample to 179 K with a cooling rate of 0: 85 K/min we studied the aging time dependence of the dielectric permittivity and the polarization fluctuations using the identical glycerol sample. A cross-correlation technique allows measurements of noise levels below the amplifier noise. In the frequency range between 0.3 and 300 Hz we find the measured data to be in agreement with the fluctuation-dissipation theorem for the liquid and glassy state not depending on the aging time.

The spectral densities related to various relaxation processes of the glass former 2-ethyl-1-hexanol (2E1H), a monohydroxy alcohol, are probed using several nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments as well as via dielectric noise spectroscopy (DNS). On the basis of the spectral density relating to voltage fluctuations, i.e., without the application of external electrical fields, DNS enables the detection of the structural relaxation and of the prominent, about two decades slower Debye process. The NMR-detected spectral density, sensitive to the orientational fluctuations of the hydroxyl deuteron, also reveals dynamics slower than the structural relaxation, but not as slow as the Debye process. Rotational and translational correlation functions of 2E1H are probed using stimulated-echo NMR techniques which could only resolve the structural dynamics or faster processes. The experimental results are discussed with reference to models that were suggested to describe the dynamics in supercooled alcohols.

The low-temperature properties of superconducting metallic glasses are governed by atomic tunnelling states. The heat transport well below the transition into the superconducting state is limited by the resonant interaction of phonons with the tunnelling systems. So far, measurements of the thermal conductivity have been performed on thin amorphous films down to about 100 mK and on bulk metallic glasses to about 1 K. Using a novel non-contact method, we have investigated for the first time the thermal transport of a superconducting bulk metallic glass Zr52.5Ti5Cu17.9Ni14.6Al10 down to about 6 mK, testing the prediction of the tunnelling model and searching for a possible influence of nuclear moments on the heat flow. The observed temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity is in reasonable agreement with the prediction of the tunnelling model.

Glass forming monohydroxy alcohols show an exponential Debye-type dielectric relaxation, which proceeds slower than the structural relaxation. Dielectric high-pressure measurements of 2-ethyl-1-hexanol reveal that isochronal scaling is violated. Temperature-volume scaling was found to be valid separately for the Debye-type and for the structural relaxation, yielding a scaling exponent of gamma approximate to 1.8. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3421555]

We have studied the mass density and the dielectric permittivity of the glass forming liquid meta-fluoroaniline under hydrostatic pressure up to 700MPa. Isothermal, isobaric, and isochoric glass transitions were induced which demonstrate the dependence of the glassy state on the thermodynamic path. The pressure dependence of the secondary relaxation and of the glass transition/melting temperature and the lower density of the pressure-induced glass compared to the liquid support a cluster model with defects for this hydrogen bonded glass.

We present a complete set of overlapping pressure-volume-temperature and dielectric relaxation data of the glass forming liquids propylene carbonate, meta-fluoroaniline, and glycerol under pressure up to 700 MPa. In all the samples a glass transition is induced by pressure at constant temperature. We compare the spectral shape of the structural relaxation process in the glass forming liquids with increasing pressure using a simple scaling for the maximum of the dielectric loss. Relaxation times measured at various temperatures and pressures can be scaled on a mastercurve by a single control parameter, the product of temperature and specific volume with a material-dependent exponent. This exponent exhibits the numerical value 4 for van der Waals liquids but is smaller for glass formers with hydrogen bonding.

We have studied dielectric spectra of the glass-forming liquid metafluoroaniline under hydrostatic pressure up to 700 MPa. Its glass transition pressure p(g) increases approximately linearly with temperature. Above p(g)(T), a well pronounced secondary relaxation, the Johari beta peak, is observed showing activated behavior. The activation energy rises proportionally to pressure and, consequently, proportionally to the glass transition temperature T(g)(p). The activation volume is independent of temperature but exhibits different values for pressures higher and lower than the pressure where the liquid left the ergodic regime. The activation volumes are about 1/10 and 1/6 of the molecular volume of fluoroaniline, respectively, suggesting that there are two different species of clusters.