On the ferromagnetic ground state of SmN

Abstract

SmN is a ferromagnetic semiconductor with the unusual property of an orbital-dominant magnetic moment that is largely cancelled by an antiparallel spin contribution, resulting in a near-zero net moment. However, there is a basic gap in the understanding of the ferromagnetic ground state, with existing density functional theory calculations providing values of the $4f$ magnetic moments at odds with experimental data. To clarify the situation, we employ an effective $4f$ Hamiltonian incorporating spin-orbit coupling, exchange, the crystal field, and $J$-mixing to calculate the ground state $4f$ moments. Our results are in excellent agreement with experimental data, revealing moderate quenching of both spin and orbital moments to magnitudes of $\sim 2{\mu }_B$ in bulk SmN, enhanced to an average of $\sim 3{\mu }_B$ in SmN layers within a SmN/GdN superlattice. These calculations provide insight into recent studies of SmN showing that it is an unconventional superconductor at low temperatures and displays twisted magnetization phases in magnetic heterostructures.

References in corpus (8)

• Near-Zero Moment Ferromagnetism in the Semiconductor SmN
• Comparison between experiment and calculated band structures for DyN and SmN
• Macroscopic quantum tunneling in spin filter ferromagnetic Josephson junctions
• Treatment of 4f states of the rare-earths: the case study of TbN
• \textit{Additional} carrier-mediated ferromagnetism in GdN
• Twisted phase of the orbital-dominant ferromagnet SmN in a GdN/SmN heterostructure
• Highly resistive epitaxial Mg-doped GdN thin films
• Magnetism and electronic structure calculation of SmN

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Superconductivity in the ferromagnetic semiconductor SmN
• Optical Spectroscopy of SmN: Evidence for 4f Transport
• 4f Conduction in the Magnetic Semiconductor NdN
• $\tilde{J}$-pseudospin states and the crystal field of cubic systems
• Tuneable magnetic behaviour, electronic structure and nitrogen vacancy formation in Gd${}_x$Sm${}_{1-x}$N
• Following enhanced Sm spin projection in Gd${}_x$Sm${}_{1-x}$N