Giant reversible magnetocaloric effect in antiferromagnetic superconductor Dy_0.9Tm_0.1Ni₂B₂C compound

The magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effect in antiferromagnetic superconductor Dy_0.9Tm_0.1Ni₂B₂C compound have been studied. The magnetic phase transition T_M (∼9.2 K) occurs above the superconducting transition temperature T _c (∼4.5 K). A giant reversible magnetocaloric effect has been observed, which is related to a field-induced first order metamagnetic transition from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic state. The values of maximum magnetic entropy change (-Δ S_M^max) reach 14.7 and 19.1 J kg^-1 K^-1 for the field change of 5 and 7 T with no obvious hysteresis loss around 13 K, respectively. These results indicated that Dy_0.9Tm_0.1Ni₂B₂C could be a promising candidate for magnetic refrigeration at low temperatures.