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.

arXiv commentAccepted to Physics Review B on 02/23/15

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Cited by in corpus (10)

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• Synthesis of low-moment CrVTiAl: a potential room temperature spin filter
• 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
• Itinerant G-type antiferromagnetism in D0${}_3$-type V${}_3$Z (Z=Al, Ga, In) compounds: A first-principles study
• Superconducting and Antiferromagnetic Properties of Dual-Phase V${}_3$Ga