Reply to “Comment on ‘Nature and entropy content of the ordering transitions inRCo2’ ”

Abstract

In the previous Comment, Forker and co-workers claim that perturbed angular correlation ͑PAC͒ data leave no alternative to the conclusion that the spontaneous magnetization of PrCo 2 and NdCo 2 undergoes a discontinuous, first-order phase transition at T C . We show here that their claim is in clear contradiction with a wealth of experimental evidence, including our own. Finally, we propose a possible origin for the disagreement between their interpretation of the PAC results and the literature on this subject.

Detailed discrimination of the order of magnetic transitions and magnetocaloric effect in pure and pseudobinary Co Laves phases

“…In a recent work [27], we suggested that the Banerjee criterion could be useful to discriminate the order of magnetic phase transitions in the RCo 2 series (where R is a rare earth ion). According to an extensive wealth of experimental results, the magnetic ordering transitions in RCo 2 had been always classified as first-order transitions for R = Dy, Er and Ho, and the rest as second-order transitions [28].…”

Universal behavior for magnetic entropy change in magnetocaloric materials: An analysis on the nature of phase transitions

“…13,14 Moreover, the large entropy change showed by ErCo 2 has led to studies on the MCE properties of the pure and pseudobinary Co Laves phases. 2,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] We have also selected the ferromagnetic manganites, La 2/3 ͑Ca x Sr ͑1−x͒ ͒ 1/3 MnO 3 with x = 0, 0.5, and 1, in order to give more generality to our results. The physical properties of these materials have been reported in literature.…”

Multiferroic (ferroelastic/ferromagnetic/ferrimagnetic) aspects of phase transitions in RCo2Laves phases

“…Forker et al [113] reported that the cubic ↔ tetragonal transition is first order, which would put it just to the first-order side of tricritical ((B * + B * ) < 0), rather than being exactly tricritical ((B * + B * ) = 0). Their conclusion is the subject of some debate, however [114][115][116].…”