10 research outputs found
Slater-Pauling Behavior of the Half-Ferromagnetic Full-Heusler Alloys
Using the full-potential screened Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method we study the
full-Heusler alloys based on Co, Fe, Rh and Ru. We show that many of these
compounds show a half-metallic behavior, however in contrast to the
half-Heusler alloys the energy gap in the minority band is extremely small.
These full-Heusler compounds show a Slater-Pauling behavior and the total
spin-magnetic moment per unit cell (M_t) scales with the total number of
valence electrons (Z_t) following the rule: M_t=Z_t-24. We explain why the
spin-down band contains exactly 12 electrons using arguments based on the group
theory and show that this rule holds also for compounds with less than 24
valence electrons. Finally we discuss the deviations from this rule and the
differences compared to the half-Heusler alloys.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, revised figure 3, new text adde
Origin and Properties of the Gap in the Half-Ferromagnetic Heusler Alloys
We study the origin of the gap and the role of chemical composition in the
half-ferromagnetic Heusler alloys using the full-potential screened KKR method.
In the paramagnetic phase the C1_b compounds, like NiMnSb, present a gap.
Systems with 18 valence electrons, Z_t, per unit cell, like CoTiSb, are
semiconductors, but when Z_t > 18 antibonding states are also populated, thus
the paramagnetic phase becomes unstable and the half-ferromagnetic one is
stabilized. The minority occupied bands accommodate a total of nine electrons
and the total magnetic moment per unit cell in mu_B is just the difference
between Z_t and . While the substitution of the transition metal
atoms may preserve the half-ferromagnetic character, substituting the atom
results in a practically rigid shift of the bands and the loss of
half-metallicity. Finally we show that expanding or contracting the lattice
parameter by 2% preserves the minority-spin gap.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures New figures, revised tex
Half-metallicity and Slater-Pauling behavior in the ferromagnetic Heusler alloys
Introductory chapter for the book "Halfmetallic Alloys - Fundamentals and
Applications" to be published in the series Springer Lecture Notes on Physics,
P. H. Dederichs and I. Galanakis (eds). It contains a review of the theoretical
work on the half-metallic Heusler alloys.Comment: Introductory chapter for the book "Halfmetallic Alloys - Fundamentals
and Applications" to be published in the series Springer Lecture Notes on
Physics, P. H. Dederichs and I. Galanakis (eds
Intersubband spin-density excitations in quantum wells with Rashba spin splitting
In inversion-asymmetric semiconductors, spin-orbit coupling induces a
k-dependent spin splitting of valence and conduction bands, which is a
well-known cause for spin decoherence in bulk and heterostructures.
Manipulating nonequilibrium spin coherence in device applications thus requires
understanding how valence and conduction band spin splitting affects carrier
spin dynamics. This paper studies the relevance of this decoherence mechanism
for collective intersubband spin-density excitations (SDEs) in quantum wells. A
density-functional formalism for the linear spin-density matrix response is
presented that describes SDEs in the conduction band of quantum wells with
subbands that may be non-parabolic and spin-split due to bulk or structural
inversion asymmetry (Rashba effect). As an example, we consider a 40 nm
GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well, including Rashba spin splitting of the conduction
subbands. We find a coupling and wavevector-dependent splitting of the
longitudinal and transverse SDEs. However, decoherence of the SDEs is not
determined by subband spin splitting, due to collective effects arising from
dynamical exchange and correlation.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure