Critical properties and anisotropic magnetocaloric effect of hexagonal ferromagnet $\mathrm{Pr}\mathrm{Cr}{\mathrm{Ge}}_3$ single crystals were investigated. The critical exponents $\beta =0.352$ with a critical temperature $T_C=90.5\mathrm{K}$ and $\gamma =1.026$ with $T_C=90.6\mathrm{K}$ are obtained by the modified Arrott plot, whereas $\delta =3.98$ is deduced by a critical isotherm analysis. The critical exponents suggest a long-range magnetic coupling with the exchange distance decaying as $J\left(r\right)\sim r^{-4.6}$. Furthermore, the magnetic entropy change $-\mathrm{\Delta }{S}_M$ reaches a maximum value around $T_C$, i.e., $-\mathrm{\Delta }{S}_M\sim 3.2\left(1.8\right)\mathrm{J}{\mathrm{kg}}^{-1}{\mathrm{K}}^{-1}$ with in-plane (out-of-plane) field change of 5 T, verifying large magnetic anisotropy. The rescaled $-\mathrm{\Delta }{S}_M(T,H)$ plots collapse onto a universal curve independent of temperature and field, confirming a second-order magnetic phase transition and reliability of the obtained critical exponents.

• Received 20 January 2021
• Accepted 23 February 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.103.104405