185 research outputs found
Properties of the quaternary half-metal-type Heusler alloy CoMnFeSi
This work reports on the bulk properties of the quaternary Heusler alloy
CoMnFeSi with the Fe concentration . All samples, which
were prepared by arc melting, exhibit long range order over the complete
range of Fe concentration. Structural and magnetic properties of
CoMnFeSi Heusler alloys were investigated by means of X-ray
diffraction, high and low temperature magnetometry, M{\"o\ss}bauer
spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry. The electronic structure
was explored by means of high energy photo emission spectroscopy at about 8 keV
photon energy. This ensures true bulk sensitivity of the measurements. The
magnetization of the Fe doped Heusler alloys is in agreement with the values of
the magnetic moments expected for a Slater-Pauling like behavior of
half-metallic ferromagnets. The experimental findings are discussed on the hand
of self-consistent calculations of the electronic and magnetic structure. To
achieve good agreement with experiment, the calculations indicate that on-site
electron-electron correlation must be taken into account, even at low Fe
concentration. The present investigation focuses on searching for the
quaternary compound where the half-metallic behavior is stable against outside
influences. Overall, the results suggest that the best candidate may be found
at an iron concentration of about 50%.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures Phys. Rev. B accepte
Electronic structure and spectroscopy of the quaternary Heusler alloy CoCrFeAl
Quaternary Heusler alloys CoCrFeAl with varying Cr to Fe
ratio were investigated experimentally and theoretically. The electronic
structure and spectroscopic properties were calculated using the full
relativistic Korringa-Kohn-Rostocker method with coherent potential
approximation to account for the random distribution of Cr and Fe atoms as well
as random disorder. Magnetic effects are included by the use of spin dependent
potentials in the local spin density approximation.
Magnetic circular dichroism in X-ray absorption was measured at the
edges of Co, Fe, and Cr of the pure compounds and the alloy in order to
determine element specific magnetic moments. Calculations and measurements show
an increase of the magnetic moments with increasing iron content. Resonant
(560eV - 800eV) soft X-ray as well as high resolution - high energy (keV) hard X-ray photo emission was used to probe the density of the
occupied states in CoCrFeAl.Comment: J.Phys.D_Appl.Phys. accepte
Investigation on MnGa/MgO interface for magnetic tunneling junctions
The MnGa Heusler compound and related alloys are the most promising
materials for the realization of spin-transfer-torque switching in magneto
tunneling junctions. Improved performance can be achieved by high quality
interfaces in these multilayered structured devices. In this context, the
interface between MnGa and MgO is of particular interest because of
its spin polarization properties in tunneling junctions. We performed a
chemical characterization of the MgO/MnGa junction by hard x-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES). The experiment indicated the formation of
Ga-O bonds at the interface and evidenced changes in the local environment of
Mn atoms in the proximity of the MgO film. In addition, we show that the
insertion of a metallic Mg-layer interfacing the MgO and Mn--Ga film strongly
suppresses the oxidation of gallium
Electronic structure and low-temperature thermoelectric transport of TiCoSb single crystals
Band structure engineering has a strong beneficial impact on thermoelectric performance, where theoretical methods dominate the investigation of electronic structures. Here, we use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) to analyze the electronic structure and report on the thermoelectric transport properties of half-Heusler TiCoSb high-quality single crystals. High degeneracy of the valence bands at the L and Gamma band maximum points was observed, which provides a band-convergence scenario for the thermoelectric performance of TiCoSb. Previous efforts have shown how crystallographic defects play an important role in TiCoSb transport properties, while the intrinsic properties remain elusive. Using hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES), we discard the presence of interstitial defects that could induce in-gap states near the valence band in our crystals. Contrary to polycrystalline reports, intrinsic TiCoSb exhibits p-type transport, albeit defects still affect the carrier concentration. In two initially identical p-type TiCoSb crystal batches, distinct metallic and semiconductive behaviors were found owing to defects not noticeable by elemental analysis. A varying Seebeck effective mass is consistent with the change at the Fermi level within this band convergence picture. This report tackles the direct investigation of the electronic structure of TiCoSb and reveals new insights and the strong impact of point defects on the optimization of thermoelectric properties
Design of magnetic materials: CoCrFeAl
Doped Heusler compounds CoCrFeAl with varying Cr to Fe
ratio were investigated experimentally and theoretically. The electronic
structure of the ordered, doped Heusler compound CoCrFeAl
( was calculated using different types of band structure
calculations. The ordered compounds turned out to be ferromagnetic with small
Al magnetic moment being aligned anti-parallel to the 3d transition metal
moments. All compounds show a gap around the Fermi-energy in the minority
bands. The pure compounds exhibit an indirect minority gap, whereas the
ordered, doped compounds exhibit a direct gap. Magnetic circular dichroism
(MCD) in X-ray absorption spectra was measured at the edges of Co,
Fe, and Cr of the pure compounds and the alloy in order to determine
element specific magnetic moments. Calculations and measurements show an
increase of the magnetic moments with increasing iron content. The
experimentally observed reduction of the magnetic moment of Cr can be explained
by Co-Cr site-disorder. The presence of the gap in the minority bands of
CoCrAl can be attributed to the occurrence of pure Co and mixed CrAl
(001)-planes in the structure. It is retained in structures with
different order of the CrAl planes but vanishes in the -structure with
alternating CoCr and CoAl planes.Comment: corrected author lis
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