Antiferromagnetic phase of the gapless semiconductor V3Al

Abstract

Discovering new antiferromagnetic compounds is at the forefront of developing future spintronic devices without fringing magnetic fields. The antiferromagnetic gapless semiconducting D03 phase of V3Al was successfully synthesized via arc-melting and annealing. The antiferromagnetic properties were established through synchrotron measurements of the atom-specific magnetic moments, where the magnetic dichroism reveals large and oppositely-oriented moments on individual V atoms. Density functional theory calculations confirmed the stability of a type G antiferromagnetism involving only two-third of the V atoms, while the remaining V atoms are nonmagnetic. Magnetization, x-ray diffraction and transport measurements also support the antiferromagnetism. This archetypal gapless semiconductor may be considered as a cornerstone for future spintronic devices containing antiferromagnetic elements.

Accepted to Physics Review B on 02/23/15

References in corpus (3)

• Quantum ESPRESSO: a modular and open-source software project for quantum simulations of materials
• Ferromagnetic structures in Mn2CoGa and Mn2CoAl doped by Co, Cu, V, and Ti
• Atomic moments in Mn2CoAl thin films analyzed by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Spin gapless semiconductors
• Low-moment ferrimagnetic phase of the Heusler compound Cr2CoAl
• Magnetic properties of low-moment ferrimagnetic Heusler Cr2CoGa thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy
• Design of L2_1-type antiferromagnetic semiconducting full-Heusler compounds: A first principles DFT+GW study
• Superconducting and Antiferromagnetic Properties of Dual-Phase V${}_3$Ga