# Anisotropic magnetocaloric effect in Fe$_{3-x}$GeTe$_2$

## TL;DR

This study investigates the anisotropic magnetocaloric properties of Fe$_{3-x}$GeTe$_2$, revealing temperature-dependent anisotropy, universal scaling behavior, and potential for spintronics applications due to its tunable ferromagnetism.

## Contribution

The paper provides the first comprehensive analysis of anisotropic magnetocaloric effects in Fe$_{3-x}$GeTe$_2$, including temperature-dependent anisotropy and universal scaling of magnetic entropy change.

## Key findings

- Magnetocrystalline anisotropy favors long-range magnetic order in thin crystals.
- Magnetic entropy change exhibits anisotropic behavior between different field directions.
- Peak magnetic entropy change of 1.20 J kg$^{-1}$ K$^{-1}$ with a 0.66 K temperature change under 5 T field.

## Abstract

We present a comprehensive study on anisotropic magnetocaloric porperties of the van der Waals weak-itinerant ferromagnet Fe$_{3-x}$GeTe$_2$ that features gate-tunable room-temperature ferromagnetism in few-layer device. Intrinsic magnetocrystalline anisotropy is observed to be temperature-dependent and most likely favors the long-range magnetic order in thin Fe$_{3-x}$GeTe$_2$ crsytal. The magnetic entropy change $-\Delta S_M$ also reveals an anisotropic characteristic between $H // ab$ and $H // c$, which could be well scaled into a universal curve. The peak value $-\Delta S_M^{max}$ of 1.20 J kg$^{-1}$ K$^{-1}$ and the corresponding adiabatic temperature change $\Delta T_{ad}$ of 0.66 K are deduced from heat capacity with out-of-plane field change of 5 T. By fitting of the field-dependent parameters of $-\Delta S_M^{max}$ and the relative cooling power RCP, it gives $-\Delta S_M^{max} \propto H^n$ with $n = 0.603(6)$ and $RCP \propto H^m$ with $m = 1.20(1)$ when $H // c$. Given the high and tunable $T_c$, Fe$_{3-x}$GeTe$_2$ crystals are of interest for fabricating the heterostructure-based spintronics device.