PhD: Designing functional magneto- and multicaloric materials for room and cryogenic temperature applications

The doctoral researcher position is within the framework of the Collaborative Research Centre CRC/TRR 270 “HoMMage”, which involves researchers from TU Darmstadt, University Duisburg-Essen, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Max Planck Institute for Iron Research, and Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons at Forschungszentrum Jülich. The aim of the project is to disentangle the various intrinsic and extrinsic parameter determining the hysteresis in advanced, multicaloric phase transition materials and, as a result, to design materials with minimized hysteresis and maximized caloric response for room as well as cryogenic temperature applications. The position is hosted by the internationally renowned Functional Materials Group at TU Darmstadt, which focuses on the development of resource-efficient functional materials. Your tasks within the project will be the synthesis as well as chemical, magnetic, caloric, and (micro) structural characterization of various magneto- and multicaloric materials with first-order and second-order phase transitions. Your main goal is to tailor the phase compositions and microstructures during the sample synthesis, primarily using arc and induction melting followed by heat treatments, to optimize hysteresis and caloric response. Complementary, you will also contribute to building and modifying advanced and unique experimental setups for the fundamental understanding of hysteresis. Throughout the project, you will closely collaborate with our project partners and various international research facilities (HLD-EMFL, ESRF, ISIS, etc.). The results will be presented in international scientific journals and conferences as well as in regular project meetings.