magnetic refrigerator

magnetic refrigerator

[mag′ned·ik ri′frij·ə‚rād·ər] (cryogenics) A device for keeping substances cooled to about 0.2 K, in which a working substance consisting of a paramagnetic salt undergoes a cycle of processes which approximates a Carnot cycle between a high-temperature reservoir consisting of a liquid-helium bath at 1.2 K and a low-temperature reservoir consisting of the substance to be cooled, and isentropic cooling of the working substance is accomplished by demagnetization.