Giant magnetocaloric effect driven by indirect exchange in magnetic multilayers

Bibliographic Details
Title: Giant magnetocaloric effect driven by indirect exchange in magnetic multilayers
Authors: Polishchuk, D. M., Tykhonenko-Polishchuk, Yu. O., Holmgren, E., Kravets, A. F., Tovstolytkin, A. I., Korenivski, V.
Source: Phys. Rev. Materials 2, 114402 (2018)
Publication Year: 2018
Collection: Condensed Matter
Subject Terms: Condensed Matter - Materials Science
More Details: Indirect exchange coupling in magnetic multilayers, also known as the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction, is known to be highly effective in controlling the interlayer alignment of the magnetization. This coupling is typically fixed at the stage of the multilayer fabrication and does not allow ex-situ control needed for device applications. It is highly desirable, in addition to the orientational control, to also control the magnitude of the intralayer magnetization, ideally switch it on/off by switching the relevant RKKY coupling. Here we demonstrate a magnetic multilayer material, incorporating thermally -- as well as field-controlled RKKY exchange, focused on to a dilute ferromagnetic alloy layer and driving it though it's Curie transition. Such on/off magnetization switching of a thin ferromagnet, performed repeatably and fully reproducibly within a low-field sweep, results in a giant magnetocaloric effect, with the estimated isothermal entropy change of -10 mJ/K cm^3 under an external field of ~10 mT, which greatly exceeds the performance of the best rare-earth based materials used in the adiabatic-demagnetization refrigeration systems.
Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, Supplemental material (2 pages, 2 figures)
Document Type: Working Paper
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.114402
Access URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/1808.01291
Accession Number: edsarx.1808.01291
Database: arXiv
More Details
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.114402