B05

The goal of the project is the element specific understanding of hysteresis of new magnetocaloric materials on atomic length scales. This is achieved by studies utilizing X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) together with nuclear resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (NRIXS) at synchrotron radiation facilities and laboratory-based Mössbauer spectroscopy investigations. These techniques allow to correlate modifications of the electronic structure, the magnetic spin and orbital moments, the local atomic structure and the vibrational density of states also along structural phase transitions. This project builds a bridge between the projects synthesizing new functional magnetic materials and the theory projects aiming at an atomistic understanding of these system as the element specific results determined here can be directly compared to the theory results.