Magnetocaloric effect of thin Dy films

We report a theoretical study of the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) of Dy thin films, and show that the confinement of spins in the direction perpendicular to the surfaces leads to a considerable enhancement of the MCE. The adiabatic temperature change, Δ T , for external field strength change, Δ H , of the order of a few kOe, is much larger than what is found in bulk Dy, reaching Δ T Δ H = 6 K/T for ultra-thin films.