Giant and anisotropic magnetocaloric effect in antiferromagnetic single crystalline DySb

Magnetocaloric effect has been studied for antiferromagnetic single crystalline DySb, by measuring the temperature ( T ) and magnetic field ( H ) dependences of magnetization in the range 2 ≤ T ≤ 300 K and 0 ≤ H ≤ 7 T with field along the [100] and the [110] direction. The magnetic entropy change caused by a field change of 5 T is as larger as −36.4 J kg−1 K−1 for H //[110] around 11 K, which is a value much greater than that reported for the polycrystalline sample. The magnetocaloric effect is further found to be anisotropic. Above T N (=10 K), the entropy change is much larger for H //[110] than for H //[100]. In contrast, the entropy change is positive below T N , and it is significantly lower for H //[110] than for H //[100]. Our results indicate that DySb is a typical material possessing giant and highly anisotropic magnetocaloric effect, and suggest that magnetic orientation could be used to enhance magnetic entropy change.