Emergence of competing magnetic interactions induced by Ge doping in the semiconductor FeGa3

Abstract

FeGa${}_3$ is an unusual intermetallic semiconductor that presents intriguing magnetic responses to the tuning of its electronic properties. When doped with Ge, the system evolves from diamagnetic to paramagnetic to ferromagnetic ground states that are not well understood. In this work, we have performed a joint theoretical and experimental study of FeGa${}_{3-x}$Ge${}_x$ using Density Functional Theory and magnetic susceptibility measurements. For low Ge concentrations we observe the formation of localized moments on some Fe atoms and, as the dopant concentration increases, a more delocalized magnetic behavior emerges. The magnetic configuration strongly depends on the dopant distribution, leading even to the appearance of antiferromagnetic interactions in certain configurations.

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References in corpus (4)

• Restoring the density-gradient expansion for exchange in solids and surfaces
• Generalized gradient approximation for solids and their surfaces
• Electronic correlations in FeGa${}_3$ and the effect of hole doping on its magnetic properties
• Towards ferromagnetic quantum criticality in FeGa3-xGex: 71Ga NQR as a zero field microscopic probe

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Magnetic order of intermetallic FeGa${}_{3-y}$Ge${}_y$ studied by $\mu$SR and ${}^{57}$Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy
• Spin dynamics of FeGa${}_{3-x}$Ge${}_x$ studied by Electron Spin Resonance