Critical behavior and magnetocaloric effect in Mn3Si2Te6

Here, the critical properties and magnetocaloric effect of semiconducting ferrimagnet Mn₃Si₂Te₆ single crystals have been investigated by bulk magnetization and heat capacity around T_c. Critical exponents β = 0.41 ± 0.01 with a critical temperature T_c = 74.18 ± 0.08 K and γ = 1.21 ± 0.02 with T_c = 74.35 ± 0.05 K are deduced by the Kouvel-Fisher plot, whereas δ = 4.29 ± 0.05 (3.40 ± 0.02) is obtained by a critical isotherm analysis at T = 74(75)K. The magnetic exchange distance is found to decay as J (r) ≈ r^-4.79, which lies between the mean-field and 3D Heisenberg models. Moreover, the magnetic entropy change -ΔS_M features a maximum at T_c, i.e., -ΔS$max\\atop{M}$ ~ 2.53 (1.67) J kg^-1 K^-1 with in-plane (out-of-plane) field change of 5 T, confirming large magnetic anisotropy. The heat capacity measurement further gives -ΔS$max\\atop{M}$ ~ 2.94 J kg^-1 K^-1 and the corresponding adiabatic temperature change ΔT_ad ~ 1.14 K with out-of-plane field change of 9 T.