Spin Polarization and Electonic Structure of Room-Curie Ferromagnetic Mn5Ge3 Epilayers

Abstract

Germanium-based alloys hold great promise for future spintronics applications, due to their potential for integration with conventional Si-based electronics. Mn5Ge3 exhibits strong ferromagnetism up to the Curie temperature Tc~295K. We use Point Contact Andreev Reflection (PCAR) spectroscopy to measure the spin polarization of Mn5Ge3 epilayers grown by solid phase epitaxy on Ge(111). In addition, we calculate the spin polarization of bulk Mn5Ge3 in the diffusive and ballistic regimes using density-functional theory. The measured spin polarization, Pc=43+/-5% is compared to our theoretical estimates, PDFT=10+/-5% and 35+/-5% in the ballistic and diffusive limits respectively.

arXiv comment13 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Probing Spin Polarization with Andreev Reflection: A Theoretical Basis
• The origin of high transport spin polarization in La${}_{0.7}$Sr${}_{0.3}$MnO${}_3$: direct evidence for minority spin states
• First-principles characterization of ferromagnetic Mn5Ge3 for spintronic applications
• Spin-dependent Transparency of Ferromagnet/Superconductor Interfaces
• Point Contact Spin Spectroscopy of Ferromagnetic MnAs Epitaxial Films
• Measurement of Spin Polarization by Andreev Reflection in Ferromagnetic In1-xMnxSb Epilayers

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Non-collinear Magnetic states of Mn5Ge3 compound
• Magnetotransport in ferromagnetic Mn5Ge3, Mn5Ge3C0.8, and Mn5Si3C0.8 thin films
• High Curie temperature Mn 5 Ge 3 thin films produced by non-diffusive reaction
• Ferromagnetic resonance and magnetic damping in C-doped Mn5Ge3
• Epitaxial Mn5Ge3 (100) layer on Ge(100) substrates obtained by flash lamp annealing
• Signatures of electron-boson coupling in half-metallic ferromagnet Mn${}_5$Ge${}_3$: study of electron self-energy $\Sigma (\omega )$ obtained from infrared spectroscopy