Feasibility testing for INS experiments on MultiLayer Capacitors

Multilayer capacitors (MLCs) permit high electric fields to be applied without breakdown. Below TN, nominally reversible driving of the partial antiferroelectric ferroelectric (AF FE) transition over a wide range of temperatures yields large inverse electrocaloric (EC) effects. Above TN, nominally reversible driving of the partial paraelectric ferroelectric (PE FE) transition yields large conventional EC effects at 302 K. This good EC performance near room temperature implies that MLCs could be exploited in prototype EC coolers. This is a first test experiment to determine whether it is possible to obtain a phonon density of states from the active material in an MLC made of Pb2ScTaO6 with Pt inner electrodes. This would be used as a proof of concept for future experiments, eventually leading to in-operando measurements if successful. It is in collaboration with Prof N Mathur at Cambridge.