Influence of high magnetic fields on the low temperature heat capacity of the itinerant electron ferromagnet Sc 3In

Abstract

The low temperature (1.3–20 K) heat capacity of the weak itinerant electron ferromagnet Sc 3In was measured in magnetic fields up to 10 T. The measurements were made on three different samples containing 24.1, 24.3 and 24.4 at.% In with Curie temperatures at H = 0 of 5.5, 6.0 and 6.3 K, respectively. The heat capacity peak at T c becomes smaller with increasing fields and at 9.98 T the magnetic entropies are only 11 to 19% of the zero field value. Above T c the spin fluctuation contribution to heat capacity, which is enhanced by the magnetic field at low fields (<≈ 5 T), is quenched at high fields (⩾ ≈ 5 T). Our results show that the spin fluctuations in Sc 3In are almost completely quenched by the magnetic fields of ≈ 10 T, and that the characteristics spin fluctuation temperature, T s , of this itinerant electron ferromagnet is about the same as T c .