YbPd2In: A promising candidate for strong entropy accumulation at very low temperature

We report on synthesis, crystal structure, magnetic, thermodynamic, and transport properties of the compound ${\mathrm{YbPd}}_{2}\mathrm{In}$, crystallizing as a Heusler structure type. A trivalent state of the rare earth was determined by fitting the magnetic susceptibility with a Curie-Weiss law. This compound is characterized by showing very weak magnetic interactions and a negligible Kondo effect. A specific-heat jump was observed at $T\ensuremath{\approx}250\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mK}$, followed at higher temperature by a power-law decrease of ${C}_{P}(T)/T$. The resulting large electronic entropy increase at very low temperature is rapidly shifted to higher temperature by the application of magnetic field. This magnetocaloric effect places ${\mathrm{YbPd}}_{2}\mathrm{In}$ as a very good candidate for adiabatic demagnetization cooling processes.