Evidence for Localized Moment Picture in Mn-based Heusler Compounds

Abstract

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) were used to probe the oxidation state and element specific magnetic moments of Mn in Heusler compounds with different crystallographic structure. The results were compared with theoretical calculations, and it was found that in full Heusler alloys, Mn is metallic (oxidation state near 0) on both sublattices. The magnetic moment is large and localized when octahedrally coordinated by the main group element, consistent with previous theoretical work, and reduced when the main group coordination is tetrahedral. By contrast, in the half Heusler compounds the magnetic moment of the Mn atoms is large and the oxidation state is +1 or +2. The magnetic and electronic properties of Mn in full and half Heusler compounds are strongly dependent on the structure and sublattice, a fact that can be exploited to design new materials.

15 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Calculated electronic and magnetic properties of the half-metallic, transition metal based Heusler compounds
• Superconductivity in the Heusler Family of Intermetallics
• Ferrimagnetism and disorder in epitaxial Mn(2-x)Co(x)VAl thin films
• State of Co and Mn in half-metallic ferromagnet Co${}_2$MnSi explored by magnetic circular dichroism in hard X-ray photoelectron emission and soft X-ray absorption spectroscopies

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Electronic Structure and Magnetic Properties of Half-metallic Ferrimagnet Mn${}_2$VAl Probed by Soft X-ray Spectroscopies
• Crystal and magnetic structure of antiferromagnetic Mn${}_2$PtPd
• IrCrMnZ (Z=Al, Ga, Si, Ge) Heusler alloys as electrode materials for MgO-based magnetic tunneling junctions: A first-principles study