Lattice vibrations boost demagnetization entropy in a shape-memory alloy

P. J. Stonaha, M. E. Manley, N. M. Bruno, I. Karaman, R. Arroyave, N. Singh, D. L. Abernathy, S. Chi
2015 Physical Review B  
Magnetocaloric (MC) materials present an avenue for chemical-free, solid state refrigeration through cooling via adiabatic demagnetization. We have used inelastic neutron scattering to measure the lattice dynamics in the MC material Ni45Co5Mn36.6In13.4. Upon heating across the Curie Temperature (TC), the material exhibits an anomalous increase in phonon entropy of 0.22 +/- 0.04 kB/atom, which is ten times larger than expected from conventional thermal expansion. This transition is accompanied
more » ... an abrupt softening of the transverse optic phonon. We present first-principle calculations showing a strong coupling between lattice distortions and magnetic excitations.
doi:10.1103/physrevb.92.140406 fatcat:xk277j73vjc5lnl3s3ibmrdgma