Pressure-Induced Colossal Magnetocaloric Effect in MnAs

Abstract

To present day, the maximum magnetocaloric effect (MCE) at room temperature for a magnetic field change of 5 T is $40\mathrm{J}/(\mathrm{k}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{K})$ for MnAs. In this Letter we present colossal MCE measurements on MnAs under pressure, reaching values up to $267\mathrm{J}/(\mathrm{k}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{K})$, far greater than the magnetic limit arising from the assumption of magnetic field independence of the lattice and electronic entropy contributions. The origin of the effect is the contribution to the entropy variation coming from the lattice through the magnetoelastic coupling.