In this paper we study the magnetocaloric effect in the rare-earth cobalt intermetallic compounds $R{\mathrm{Co}}_2(R=\mathrm{Dy},\mathrm{Ho},\mathrm{Er}).\mathrm{}$ We use a theoretical model, in which the localized spins of the rare-earth ions are immersed into an effective subsystem of the itinerant electrons. In the calculation of the magnetic entropy, we consider both the localized spins and the itinerant electrons contributions. The calculated curves of the adiabatic temperature change and of the isothermal magnetic entropy change with magnetic field for these intermetallic compounds show a jump around the magnetic ordering temperature, in good agreement with the experimental data.

• Received 13 December 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.66.094402