No Arabic abstract
Giant magnetocaloric effect is widely achieved in hexagonal MnMX-based (M = Co or Ni, X = Si or Ge) ferromagnets at their first-order magnetostructural transition. However, the thermal hysteresis and the low sensitivity of the magnetostructural transition to the magnetic field inevitably lead to a sizeable irreversibility of the low-field magnetocaloric effect. In this work, we show an alternative way to realize a reversible low-field magnetocaloric effect in MnMX-based alloys by taking advantage of the second-order phase transition. With introducing Cu into Co in MnCoGe alloy, the martensitic transition is stabilized at high temperature, while the Curie temperature of the orthorhombic phase is reduced to room temperature. As a result, a second-order magnetic transition with negligible thermal hysteresis and a large magnetization change can be observed, enabling a large reversible magnetocaloric effect. By both calorimetric and direct measurements, a reversible adiabatic temperature change of about 1 K is obtained under a field change of 0-1 T at 304 K, which is larger than that obtained in a first-order magnetostructural transition. To get a better insight into the origin of these experimental results, first-principles calculations are carried out to characterize the chemical bonds and the magnetic exchange interaction. Our work provides a new understanding of the MnCoGe alloy and indicates a feasible route to improve the reversibility of the low-field magnetocaloric effect in the MnMX system.
Magnetic entropy and adiabatic temperature changes in and above the room-temperature region has been measured for La0.7Sr0.3Mn1-xMxO3 (M = Al, Ti) by means of magnetization and heat capacity measurements in magnetic fields up to 6 T. The magnetocaloric effect becomes largest at the ferromagnetic ordering temperature Tc that is tuned to ~300 K by the substitution of Al or Ti for Mn. While the substitution of Al for Mn drastically reduces the entropy change, it extends considerably the working temperature span and improves the relative cooling power. The magnetocaloric effect seems to be only lightly affected by Ti substitution. Although manganites have been considered potential for magnetic refrigerants, the magnetocaloric effect in these materials is limited due to the existence of short-range ferromagnetic correlations above Tc.
Layered iridates have been the subject of intense scrutiny on account of their unusually strong spin-orbit coupling, which opens up a narrow gap in a material that would otherwise be a metal. This insulating state is very sensitive to external perturbations. Here, we show that vertical compression at the nanoscale, delivered using the tip of a standard scanning probe microscope, is capable of inducing a five orders of magnitude change in the room temperature resistivity of Sr2IrO4. The extreme sensitivity of the electronic structure to anisotropic deformations opens up a new angle of interest on this material, and the giant and fully reversible perpendicular piezoresistance makes iridates a promising material for room temperature piezotronic devices.
We investigate the magnetocaloric effect (MCE), relative cooling power (RCP) and crystalline structure in Sb substituted CrTe_{1-x}Sb_{x} (0 leq x leq 0.2) alloy. The Rietveld refinement of the XRD pattern of CrTe1-xSbx showed the emerging of pure hexagonal NiAs structure with P63/mmc (194) space group with increasing Sb substitution. We detect a slight increase in the basal plane a-lattice parameter, with a much larger reduction in the c-axis. Magnetic isotherms were measured in the temperature range of 50-400K. The results revealed an increase in the maximum entropy change |S_{M}(T,H)| with Sb-substitutions in the temperature range (~285-325K). Moreover, The RCP values increased by about 33% with 20% Sb substitutions. These findings suggest that CrTe_{1-x}Sb_{x} alloys can be used in room temperature magnetic cooling at fraction of the coast of pure Gd element the porotype magnetic material for magnetic refrigeration.
We show that room temperature resistivity of Ba0.5Sr1.5Zn2Fe12O22 single crystals increases by more than three orders of magnitude upon being subjected to optimized heat treatments. The increase in the resistivity allows the determination of magnetic field (H)-induced ferroelectric phase boundaries up to 310 K through the measurements of dielectric constant at a frequency of 10 MHz. Between 280 and 310 K, the dielectric constant curve shows a peak centered at zero magnetic field and thereafter decreases monotonically up to 0.1 T, exhibiting a magnetodielectric effect of 1.1%. This effect is ascribed to the realization of magnetic field-induced ferroelectricity at an H value of less than 0.1 T near room temperature. Comparison between electric and magnetic phase diagrams in wide temperature- and field-windows suggests that the magnetic field for inducing ferroelectricity has decreased near its helical spin ordering temperature around 315 K due to the reduction of spin anisotropy in Ba0.5Sr1.5Zn2Fe12O22.
Resonant enhancement of spin Seebeck effect (SSE) due to phonons was recently discovered in Y3Fe5O12 (YIG). This effect is explained by hybridization between the magnon and phonon dispersions. However, this effect was observed at low temperatures and high magnetic fields, limiting the scope for applications. Here we report observation of phonon-resonant enhancement of SSE at room temperature and low magnetic field. We observed in Lu2BiFe4GaO12 and enhancement 700 % greater than that in a YIG film and at very low magnetic fields around 10-1 T, almost one order of magnitude lower than that of YIG. The result can be explained by the change in the magnon dispersion induced by magnetic compensation due to the presence of non-magnetic ion substitutions. Our study provides a way to tune the magnon response in a crystal by chemical doping with potential applications for spintronic devices.