The influence of Ga doping on magnetic properties, magnetocaloric effect, and electronic structure of pseudo-binary GdZn1-xGax (x = 0-0.1)

TL;DR

This study investigates how Ga doping affects the magnetic, magnetocaloric, and electronic properties of GdZn, revealing decreased magnetic transition temperatures, altered electronic structures, and the persistence of magnetic ordering despite weakened interactions.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the effects of Ga doping on GdZn's properties, combining experimental data with machine learning and first-principles calculations.

Findings

Magnetic transition temperature decreases with Ga doping.

Electronic band structure features diminish with Ga addition.

A mean-field model successfully describes magnetocaloric behavior.

Abstract

We explore the impact of introducing IIIA-group element Ga in place of IIB-group element Zn in binary intermetallic GdZn on its magnetic and magnetocaloric properties, as well as explicate the modified electronic band structure of the compound. The magnetic transition temperature of the compound decreases with the increase of Ga concentration in GdZn1-xGax (x = 0-0.1) while the crystal structure (CsCl-prototype) and lattice parameters remain unchanged. Our detailed analysis of magnetization and magnetocaloric data conclusively proves that long-ranged magnetic ordering exists in the sample, despite the magnetic interaction considerably weakening with the increase of Ga. The experimental data is rationalized using both theoretical machine learning model and first-principle density functional theory.The electronic band structure of GdZn is manifested with some unusual complex features which gradually diminish with Ga doping and conventional sinusoidal feature of Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya- Yosida (RKKY)-type interactions also disappears. A mean-field theory model is developed and can successfully describe the overall magnetocaloric behavior of the GdZn1-xGax series of samples