The origin of large low-temperature specific heat in an Er–Cu–Ga magnetic regenerator material
In this work, the low-temperature volumetric specific heat, magnetic structure, and phase transition of the ErCu0.92Ga0.08 intermetallic alloy are investigated. It is found that ErCu0.92Ga0.08 exhibits a maximum specific heat of 0.96 J/(K cm3) at 15.9 K, which surpasses that of a commercial Pb material used as a regenerator in cryocoolers. Two successive magnetic phase transitions, namely, antiferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic transition and antiferromagnetic spin-reorientation transition, are observed in ErCu0.92Ga0.08 via Neutron Powder Diffraction. The anomalous specific heat behavior can be ascribed to the spin-reorientation transition. Based on the findings, it is believed that ErCu0.92Ga0.08 can be a new magnetic regenerator material for low-temperature cryocoolers.
Authors
- Yangmin Chen
- Jian Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6864-9656)
- Xinqi Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1894-4910)
- Pengna Zhang
- Yawei Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2567-2853)
- Wenyun Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9649-4265)
- Jinbo Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3517-9701)
- Wenbin Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1855-0134)
Institutions
- Shanghai University (CN)
- Shanghai University of Engineering Science (CN)
- Ningbo University of Technology (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- Division of Materials Science and Engineering (AU)
- University of Science and Technology Beijing (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Applied Physics
- Published
- 2025-09-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0280199
- Primary Topic
- Magnetic Properties of Alloys
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- National Key Research and Development Program of China