Large reversible magnetocaloric effect induced by metamagnetic transition in antiferromagnetic HoNiGa compound**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51671022 and 51427806), the Beijing Natural Science Foundation, China (Grant No. 2162022), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (Grant No. FRF-TP-15-002A3).

Abstract

The magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effects (MCE) of HoNiGa compound are investigated systematically. The HoNiGa exhibits a weak antiferromagnetic (AFM) ground state below the Ńeel temperature TN of 10 K, and the AFM ordering could be converted into ferromagnetic (FM) ordering by external magnetic field. Moreover, the field-induced FM phase exhibits a high saturation magnetic moment and a large change of magnetization around the transition temperature, which then result in a large MCE. A large −ΔSM of 22.0 J/kg K and a high RC value of 279 J/kg without magnetic hysteresis are obtained for a magnetic field change of 5 T, which are comparable to or even larger than those of some other magnetic refrigerant materials in the same temperature range. Besides, the μ0H2/3 dependence of well follows the linear fitting according to the mean-field approximation, suggesting the nature of second-order FM–PM magnetic transition under high magnetic fields. The large reversible MCE induced by metamagnetic transition suggests that HoNiGa compound could be a promising material for magnetic refrigeration in low temperature range.