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Irreversible Heating Measurement with Microsecond Pulse Magnet: Example of the alpha-theta Phase Transition of Solid Oxygen

Dissipation inevitably occurs in first order phase transitions, leading to the irreversible heating. Conversely, the irreversible heating effect could be a clue for the first order phase transition. We measured the temperature change at the magnetic-field-induced alpha-theta phase transition of solid oxygen. The significant temperature increase from 13 to 37 K, amounting to 700 J/mol, is observed due to the irreversible heating at the first order phase transition. We argue that the hysteresis loss of the magnetization curve and the dissipative structural transformation account for the irreversible heating. The measurement of the irreversible heating can be utilized for detecting the first-order phase transition in good combination with the ultrahigh magnetic fields generated in microseconds.