Magnetic phase transitions and magnetocaloric effect in layered intermetallic La0.75Sm0.25Mn2Si2 compound

Magnetic and magnetothermal properties have been studied for the La0.75Sm0.25Mn2Si2 compound which has the spontaneous first-order antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic (AF-F) transition at a temperature of 160 K. The transition is accompanied by the anisotropic lattice distortion. Isothermal entropy change has been estimated for different magnetic states using the heat capacity and magnetization data. Direct measurements of the adiabatic temperature change have been performed in the fields applied both along the easy c-axis and in the basal plane of a quasi-single crystal. Near the transition temperature, the AF-F transition can be realized in low magnetic fields, which makes such compounds attractive for magnetoelastic and magnetothermal applications.