Bhasi Nair³ Tomoyasu Usui¹ Sam Crossley^{3 2} Xavier Moya³ Sakyo Hirose¹ Neil Mathur³

3, Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, , United Kingdom
1, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Nagaokakyo-shi, Kyoto, Japan
2, Applied Physics, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, United States

Using both thermocouples and infrared imaging, we report large electrocaloric effects in PbSc_0.5Ta_0.5O₃ multilayer capacitors near room temperature. For field changes of 29.0 V μm^-1, we find changes of temperature that peak at 5.5 K, and exceed 3 K for starting temperatures that span 176 K. This directly measured performance in a macroscopic body improves upon the magnetocaloric response of gadolinium when driven by expensive permanent magnets, suggesting the possibility of a straight swap in prototype cooling devices.