A magnetocaloric study on the series of 3d-metal chromites ACr$_{2}$O$_{4}$ where A = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn

Abstract

The 3d-metal chromites ACr2O4 where A is magnetic ion, show the paramagnetic to ferrimagnetic phase transition at TC while for non magnetic A-site ion, ACr2O4 show paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic phase transition at TN . In this report, we present the detailed study of magnetic and the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) of the 3d-metal chromites ACr2O4 (where A = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn) near TC and TN . We find the magnitude of MCE (-∆SM ) decreases on decreasing the magnetic moment of A-site ion with a exception for CuCr2O4 . Additionally, to know more about the order and nature of phase transition, we have made a scaling analysis of (-∆SM ) for all the chromites across the phase transition temperatures TC and TN .