The Electronic Structure of Europium Chalcogenides and Pnictides

Abstract

The electronic structure of some europium chalcogenides and pnictides is calculated using the {\it ab-initio} self-interaction corrected local-spin-density approximation (SIC-LSD). This approach allows both a localised description of the rare earth $f-$electrons and an itinerant description of $s$, $p$ and $d$-electrons. Localising different numbers of $f$-electrons on the rare earth atom corresponds to different nominal valencies, and the total energies can be compared, providing a first-principles description of valency. All the chalcogenides are found to be insulators in the ferromagnetic state and to have a divalent configuration. For the pnictides we find that EuN is half-metallic and the rest are normal metals. However a valence change occurs as we go down the pnictide column of the Periodic Table. EuN and EuP are trivalent, EuAs is only just trivalent and EuSb is found to be divalent. Our results suggest that these materials may find application in spintronic and spin filtering devices.

7 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (1)

• Ab initio charge, spin and orbital energy scales in LaMnO3

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Introduction to half-metallic Heusler alloys: Electronic Structure and Magnetic Properties
• Rare Earth Monopnictides and Monochalcogenides from First Principles: Towards an Electronic Phase Diagram of Strongly Correlated Materials
• Electronic Structure of Samarium Monopnictides and Monochalcogenides
• Magnetic Coupling Between Non-Magnetic Ions: Eu3+ in EuN and EuP
• Half-metallicity and Slater-Pauling behavior in the ferromagnetic Heusler alloys
• Electronic structure of GdN, and the influence of exact exchange
• Nearly triple nodal point topological phase in half-metallic GdN
• Magnetism and electronic structure calculation of SmN
• Density Functional Theory Study of Lanthanide Monoxides under High Pressure: Pressure-Induced B1-B2 Transition
• Role of defects and disorder in the half-metallic full-Heusler compounds
• NO-assisted molecular-beam epitaxial growth of nitrogen substituted EuO
• On the Possibility of Ferromagnetism and Half-Metallicity in Local Moment Systems
• Two-band ferromagnetic Kondo-lattice model for local-moment half-metals