Abstract
We report on synthesis, crystal structure, magnetic, thermodynamic, and transport properties of the compound , crystallizing as a Heusler structure type. A trivalent state of the rare earth was determined by fitting the magnetic susceptibility with a Curie-Weiss law. This compound is characterized by showing very weak magnetic interactions and a negligible Kondo effect. A specific-heat jump was observed at , followed at higher temperature by a power-law decrease of . The resulting large electronic entropy increase at very low temperature is rapidly shifted to higher temperature by the application of magnetic field. This magnetocaloric effect places as a very good candidate for adiabatic demagnetization cooling processes.
2 More- Received 12 August 2019
- Revised 19 October 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.174422
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