Magnetocaloric Effect in ErSi Compound

The magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effects (MCEs) have been investigated in ErSi compound, which crystallizes in the orthorhombic CrB-type structure. This compound is antiferromagnetic (AFM) with a Néel temperature $T_{N}$ of 12.5 K. The measurements of the temperature and field dependences of the magnetization clearly show that the ErSi compound undergoes a field-induced metamagnetic transition from AFM to ferromagnetic (FM) state below $T_{N}$ . The isothermal magnetic entropy change $(\Delta S_{M})$ and refrigerant capacity (RC) of ErSi have been measured for various applied magnetic fields and their values are found to be ${-}14.8$ J $\cdot$ kg $^{-1}\cdot$ K $^{-1}$ and 210 J $\cdot$ kg $^{-1}$ for a field change of 0–5 T, respectively. The large MCE is attributed to the field-induced AFM to FM metamagnetism occurring in this compound.