- Letter
Role of Debye temperature in achieving large adiabatic temperature changes at cryogenic temperatures: A case study on
Phys. Rev. B 109, L140407 – Published 17 April, 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.109.L140407
Abstract
The excellent magnetic entropy change () in the temperature range of 20 77 K due to the first-order phase transition makes an intriguing candidate for magnetocaloric hydrogen liquefaction. As an equally important magnetocaloric parameter, the adiabatic temperature change () of associated with the first-order phase transition has not yet been reported. In this work, the of is obtained from heat capacity measurements: 2 K in fields of 2 T and 4.3 K in fields of 5 T. While demonstrating a that is not as impressive as its remarkable exhibits a low Debye temperature () of around 110 K. Based on these two observations, an approach that combines the mean-field and Debye models is developed to study the correlation between , one of the most important magnetocaloric parameters, and , one important property of a material. The role of in achieving large is revealed: materials with higher tend to exhibit larger , particularly in the cryogenic temperature range. This discovery explains the absence of an outstanding in and can serve as a tool for designing or searching for materials with both a large and a .