We investigate the magnetothermodynamic properties of the perovskite manganite Pr0.46Sr0.54MnO3. Our data imply that the paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition at TN = 210 K is first order with an abrupt decrease of volume (~ 0.14 % in zero magnetic field) and is accompanied by a sharp anomaly in specific heat. Upon application of a sufficiently large magnetic field, the antiferromagnetic phase transforms into a ferromagnetic phase with a sharp increase in sample volume. This field induced transition results in a large positive magnetocaloric effect just below TN (∆Sm = 10.4 Jkg-1K-1 at H = 5.5 T), which is associated with the increasing stability of the antiferromagnetic state with decreasing temperature.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0306223,
title = {Large positive magnetocaloric effect in a perovskite manganite},
author = {R. Mahendiran and B. G. Ueland and P. Schiffer and A. Maignan and C. Martin and M. Hervieu and B. Raveau and M. R. Ibarra and L. Morellon},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0306223},
year = {2007}
}