Metamagnetism, giant magnetoresistance and magnetocaloric effects in RCO2-based compounds in the vicinity of the Curie temperature

Magnetisation and magnetoresistance isotherms were measured for a number of (R,R')Co-2, (R,Y)Co-2 and R(Co,Si)(2) (R,R' = rare earth) compounds. A metamagnetic transition is observed just above the Curie temperature (T-C) of compounds having a first order phase transition, i.e. ErCo2-, HoCo2-, and DyCo2-based ones. Both 4f- and 3d-sublattice magnetic moments contribute to a sharp change of the magnetisation at this transition. The concurring suppression of the magneto resistance can be considered to be due to quenching of spin fluctuations. In addition, the magnetic entropy change DeltaS(m) is estimated from the magnetisation data by using a Maxwell equation. The resulting giant magnetocaloric effects are discussed in terms of the 4f(R)-localised spin and the 3d(Co)-spin fluctuations as well as the nature of the phase transition. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.