Impacts of highly charged ions as seeds in a magneto-structural phase transition of magnetocaloric thin films

Abstract

Investigation on modifications of structural and magnetic properties of magnetocaloric thin films induced by slow highly charged ions bombardment under well-controlled conditions is presented. The ions induce defects/constraints that facilitate nucleation of one phase with respect to the other in the first-order magnetostructural MnAs, with a consequent suppression of thermal hysteresis, but without any significant perturbation on the other structural and magnetic properties.