Impact of Interfacial Magnetism on Magnetocaloric Properties of Thin Film Heterostructures

Published

March 17, 2011

Author(s)

Brian J. Kirby, June W. Lau, D. V. Williams, C. A. Bauer, Casey W. Miller

Abstract

Polarized neutron reflectometry was used to determine the depth profile of the magnetic moment per Gd atom, M_Gd, in a Gd(30 nm)/W(5 nm) multilayer. Despite sharp interfaces observed by Transmission Electron Microscopy, mGd is systematically suppressed near the Gd-W interfaces. Because the peak magnetic entropy change is proportional to M^{2/3}_Gd, this results in a reduction of the maximum achievable magnetocaloric effect in Gd-W heterostructures. By extension, our results suggest that creating materials with Gd-ferromagnet interfaces may increase the M_Gd relative to the bulk, leading to enhanced magnetocaloric properties.

Citation

Applied Physics Letters

Volume

109

Issue

6

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

magnetocalorics, polarized neutron scattering

Citation

Kirby, B. , Lau, J. , , D. , , C. and , C. (2011), Impact of Interfacial Magnetism on Magnetocaloric Properties of Thin Film Heterostructures, Applied Physics Letters, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=906642 (Accessed October 10, 2025)