Giant magnetocaloric effect in the Ising antiferromagnet DySb

The magnetic phase transitions and the magnetocaloric effect in the Ising antiferromagnet DySb have been studied. A field-induced sign change of the magnetocaloric effect has been observed which is related to a first-order field-induced metamagnetic transition from the antiferromagnetic to the ferromagnetic states at/below the Neel temperature T-N, while the negative field-induced entropy change is found to be associated with the first- order magnetic transition from the paramagnetic to the ferromagnetic states above TN. The large magnetic-entropy change (-20.6 J/kg K at 11 K for a field change of 7 T-), together with small hysteresis, suggests that DySb could be a potential material for magnetic refrigeration in the low-temperature range. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.