Critical behavior and magnetocaloric effect in Mn3Si2Te6

The critical properties and magnetocaloric effect of semiconducting ferrimagnet ${\mathrm{Mn}}_{3}{\mathrm{Si}}_{2}{\mathrm{Te}}_{6}$ single crystals have been investigated by bulk magnetization and heat capacity around ${T}_{c}$. Critical exponents $\ensuremath{\beta}=0.41\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.01$ with a critical temperature ${T}_{c}=74.18\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.08\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$ and $\ensuremath{\gamma}=1.21\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02$ with ${T}_{c}=74.35\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.05\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$ are deduced by the Kouvel-Fisher plot, whereas $\ensuremath{\delta}=4.29\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.05(3.40\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02)$ is obtained by a critical isotherm analysis at $T=74(75)\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$. The magnetic exchange distance is found to decay as $J(r)\ensuremath{\approx}{r}^{\ensuremath{-}4.79}$, which lies between the mean-field and 3D Heisenberg models. Moreover, the magnetic entropy change $\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}{S}_{M}$ features a maximum at ${T}_{c}$, i.e., $\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}{S}_{M}^{\mathrm{max}}\ensuremath{\sim}2.53(1.67)\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{J}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{kg}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{K}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ with in-plane (out-of-plane) field change of 5 T, confirming large magnetic anisotropy. The heat capacity measurement further gives $\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}{S}_{M}^{\mathrm{max}}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\sim}2.94\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{J}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{kg}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{K}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ and the corresponding adiabatic temperature change $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}{T}_{ad}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\sim}1.14\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$ with out-of-plane field change of 9 T.