A novel zinc-beryllium borate BaZnBe2(BO3)2F2 was grown for the first time. It was rationally designed to overcome the structural instability problems of Sr2Be2B2O7 (SBBO) and exhibits a moderate birefringence (Δn = 0.063 at 1064 nm).

Magnetic cooling at low temperature has attracted intensive interest in cryogenics research, which may become important as cooling medium for long-wave photon detectors to support space exploration. Here, we report a Gd-based quaternary magnetic refrigerant material, Gd BSi O , containing chains of face-shared GdO polyhedra and geometrically frustrated OGd triangles. Magnetic measurements indicate that Gd BSi O exhibits a large magnetocaloric effect (MCE) about 1.74 times that of the practical magnetic refrigerant GGG (-ΔS =67.0 J kg K ). We analyzed the origin of the large MCE by comparing Gd -containing compounds with different structures and concentrations of Gd .

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