Magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effect in the RCu{sub 2}Si{sub 2} and RCu{sub 2}Ge{sub 2} (R = Ho, Er) compounds

Journal Article · Thu Feb 20 23:00:00 EST 2014 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4864419· OSTI ID:22278029

Mo, Zhao-Jun ^[1]; Shen, Jun; Wu, Jian-Feng ^[2]; Yan, Li-Qin; Wang, Li-Chen; Sun, Ji-rong; Shen, Bao-Gen ^[3]; Gao, Xin-Qiang; Tang, Cheng-Chun ^[1]

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1. School of Material Science and Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin (China)
2. Key laboratory of cryogenics, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
3. State Key Laboratory of Magnetism, Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter, Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)

The magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in RCu{sub 2}Si{sub 2} and RCu{sub 2}Ge{sub 2} (R = Ho, Er) compounds have been investigated. All these compounds possess an antiferromagnetic (AFM)-paramagnetic (PM) transition around their respective Neel temperatures. The RCu{sub 2}Si{sub 2} compounds undergo spin-glassy behavior above Neel temperature. Furthermore, a field-induced metamagnetic transition from AFM to ferromagnetic (FM) states is observed in these compounds. The calculated magnetic entropy changes show that all RCu{sub 2}Si{sub 2} and RCu{sub 2}Ge{sub 2} (R = Ho, Er) compounds, especially, ErCu{sub 2}Si{sub 2} exhibits large MCEs with no thermal hysteresis and magnetic hysteresis loss. The value of −ΔS{sub M}{sup max} reaches 22.8 J/Kg K for magnetic field changes from 0 to 5 T. In particular, for field changes of 1 and 2 T, the giant reversible magnetic entropy changes −ΔS{sub M}{sup max} are 8.3 and 15.8 J/kg K at 2.5 K, which is lower than the boiling point of helium. The low-field giant magnetic entropy change, together with ignorable thermal hysteresis and field hysteresis loss of ErCu{sub 2}Si{sub 2} compound is expected to have effective applications in low temperature magnetic refrigeration.

• OSTI ID: 22278029
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 115; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ANTIFERROMAGNETISM
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
BOILING POINTS
COPPER SILICIDES
ENTROPY
ERBIUM COMPOUNDS
GERMANIDES
HOLMIUM COMPOUNDS
HYSTERESIS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
NEEL TEMPERATURE
PARAMAGNETISM
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE