Proximity-enhanced magnetocaloric effect in ferromagnetic trilayers

Abstract

Abstract The demagnetization and associated magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in strong-weak-strong ferromagnetic trilayers, upon a reorientation of the strong ferromagnets from parallel to antiparallel (AP) magnetization, is simulated using atomistic spin dynamics. The simulations yield non-trivial spin distributions in the AP state, which in turn allows entropy to be calculated directly. The influence of longer-range spin–spin interactions and of variable strength of the external switching field are investigated. Finally, we find that the MCE in the system can be significantly improved by allowing the local exchange to vary through the spacer, which in practice can be implemented by spatially tailoring the spacer’s magnetic dilution.