Abstract
We review history, materials and underlying physics that form a background common to magnetic refrigeration and spin–lattice relaxation. To illustrate how these subjects are profoundly interrelated with each other, we describe studies performed on the molecular nanomagnets with formula [Gd(W5O18)2]9− and [Gd(P5W30O110)]12−. Each molecular unit carries a single ion of gadolinium, which is coordinated to different polyoxometalate moieties, respectively. Each Gd3+ spin is magnetically isolated and maintains thermal equilibrium with the lattice down to temperatures close to absolute zero. For T ≲ 200 mK, the spin–lattice relaxation becomes dominated by pure quantum tunneling events. We discuss these properties with a keen eye for promising applications of molecular nanomagnets, namely, as magnetic refrigerants for attaining such low temperatures and spin qubits in quantum information processing.
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