Free-energy analysis of the nonhysteretic first-order phase transition of Eu2In

Abstract

Binary intermetallic ${\mathrm{Eu}}_{2}\mathrm{In}$ was recently reported to exhibit a giant anhysteretic magnetocaloric effect due to a first-order magnetic phase transition between paramagnetic and ferromagnetic states. Experimentally, the transition occurs with a small phase volume change, $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}V/V$, of approximately 0.1% around ${T}_{C}$ of $ca.$ 55 K. We represent magnetic and compute magnetocaloric properties of a ${\mathrm{Eu}}_{2}\mathrm{In}$ compound using a microscopic description based on a model Hamiltonian that takes into account magnetic exchange and magnetoelastic interactions. In the model the thermodynamic nature of the transition is conveniently represented by a single magnetoelastic interaction parameter. A good agreement between the theoretical results and earlier published experimental data confirms the effectiveness of our approach.