Introduction to half-metallic Heusler alloys: Electronic Structure and Magnetic Properties

Abstract

Intermetallic Heusler alloys are amongst the most attractive half-metallic systems due to the high Curie temperatures and the structural similarity to the binary semiconductors. In this review we present an overview of the basic electronic and magnetic properties of both Heusler families: the so-called half-Heusler alloys like NiMnSb and the the full-Heusler alloys like Co${}_2$MnGe. \textit{Ab-initio} results suggest that both the electronic and magnetic properties in these compounds are intrinsically related to the appearance of the minority-spin gap. The total spin magnetic moment $M_t$ scales linearly with the number of the valence electrons $Z_t$, such that $M_t=Z_t-24$ for the full-Heusler and $M_t=Z_t-18$ for the half-Heusler alloys, thus opening the way to engineer new half-metallic alloys with the desired magnetic properties.

28 pages, submitted for a special issue of 'Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics' on Heusler alloys

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Cited by in corpus (58)

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• Role of the conduction electrons in mediating exchange interactions in Heusler alloys
• Search for spin gapless semiconductors: The case of inverse Heusler compounds
• Spin-polarization and electronic properties of half-metallic Heusler alloys calculated from first-principles
• Ab-initio design of half-metallic fully-compensated ferrimagnets: the case of Cr${}_2$MnZ (Z= P, As, Sb, Bi) compounds
• Non-quasiparticle states in Co${}_2$MnSi evidenced through magnetic tunnel junction spectroscopy measurements
• Computational Investigation of Inverse-Heusler compounds for Spintronics Applications
• Effect of doping and disorder on the half-metallicity of full Heusler alloy
• Influence of mixing the low-valent transition metal atoms (Y,Y${}^{\ast }$=Cr,Mn,Fe) on the properties of the quaternary Co${}_2$[Y${}_{1-x}$Y${}_x^{\ast }$]Z (Z=Al,Ga,Si,Ge,Sn) Heusler compounds
• Doping and disorder in the Co${}_2$MnAl and Co${}_2$MnGa half-metallic Heusler alloys
• First-principles investigation of half-metallic ferromagnetism of half-Heusler compounds XYZ
• Spintronic properties and stability of the half-Heusler alloys LiMnZ (Z=N, P, Si)
• Half-metallic Ferromagnets, Spin Gapless Semiconductors, and Topological Semimetals Based on Heusler Alloys
• Electronic structure of Zr-Ni-Sn systems: role of clustering and nanostructures in Half-Heusler and Heusler limits
• Designing a fully-compensated half-metallic ferrimagnet
• Ordering tendencies and electronic properties in quaternary Heusler derivatives
• FeTaSb and FeMnTiSb as promising thermoelectric materials: An ab initio approach
• Heusler compounds -- how to tune the magnetocrystalline anisotropy
• Ab-initio design of new Heusler materials for thermoelectric applications
• Engineering the electronic, magnetic and gap-related properties of the quinternary half-metallic Heusler alloys
• Ab-initio determined electronic and magnetic properties of half-metallic NiCrSi and NiMnSi Heusler alloys; the role of interfaces and defects
• Measurement of magnetization using domain compressibility in CoFeB films with perpendicular anisotropy
• Optically controlling the competition between spin flips and intersite spin transfer in a Heusler half-metal on sub-100 fs timescales
• Ferrimagnetism and antiferromagnetism in half-metallic Heusler alloys
• Structure, magnetism and magnetic compensation behavior of Co50-xMn25Ga25+x and Co50-xMn25+xGa25 Heusler alloys
• Large spin gaps in half metals MN4 (M=Mn, Fe, Co) with N2 dimers
• Unusual kinetic properties of usual Heusler alloys
• Complex magnetic behavior and high spin polarization in Fe(3-x)Mn(x)Si alloys
• Competition of L21 and XA Ordering in Fe2CoAl Heusler Alloy: A First-Principles Study
• Band structure tuning of Heusler compounds revisited: Spin- and momentum-resolved electronic structure analysis of compounds with different band filling
• Optical and magneto-optical properties of ferromagnetic full-Heusler films: experiments and first-principles calculations
• Investigation of the quaternary Fe2-xCoxMnSi alloys by structural, magnetic, resistivity and spin polarization measurements
• High spin-polarization in a disordered novel quaternary Heusler alloy FeMnVGa
• Band structure and transport studies of half Heusler compound DyPdBi: An efficient thermoelectric material
• Half-metallicity and magnetism in the Co${}_2$MnAl/CoMnVAl heterostructure
• From materials to systems: a multiscale analysis of nanomagnetic switching
• Magnetic order and magneto-transport in half-metallic ferrimagnetic Mn${}_y$Ru${}_x$Ga thin films
• Half metallic ferromagnetism in tri-layered perovskites Sr${}_4$T${}_3$O${}_{10}$ (T=Co, Rh)
• Phase stability and the effect of lattice distortions on electronic properties and half-metallic ferromagnetism of Co2FeAl Heusler alloy: An ab initio study
• First-principles investigation of competing magnetic interactions in (Mn,Fe)Ru${}_2$Sn Heusler solid solutions
• Methods to induce perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in full-Heusler Co2FeSi thin layers in a magnetic tunnel junction structure
• Half-Metallic L2${}_1$ Structures with (001) Planar Insertions
• Spectral signatures of thermal spin disorder and excess Mn in half-metallic NiMnSb
• Rare-earth impurities in Co${}_2$MnSi: an opportunity to improve Half-Metallicity at finite temperatures
• A general rule for predicting the magnetic moment of Cobalt-based Heusler compounds using compressed sensing and density functional theory
• Al${}_2$MnCu: A magnetically ordered member of the Heusler alloy family despite having a valence electron count of 24
• Magnetic 2D electron liquid at the surface of Heusler semiconductors
• First-principles study of exchange stiffness constant of half-metallic Heusler alloys Co2MnZ (Z= Si, Al) at finite temperatures: Spin fluctuation-induced effective half metallicity
• Spin and current transport in the robust half-metallic magnet $c$-CoFeGe
• Crystal structure, magnetism, and bonding of the hexagonal compounds Pd${}_{1.63}$Mn${}_{0.37}$Si and Pd${}_{1.82}$Mn${}_{0.18}$Ge related to the Fe${}_2$P structure
• Spin-orbit torques in strained PtMnSb from first principles
• Randomness in atomic disorder and consequent squandering of spin-polarization in a ferromagnetically fragile quaternary Heusler alloy FeRuCrSi
• First-principles study of magnetic and spin-dependent transport properties of Mn2VZ (Z = Al, Ga) with negative spin polarization using a disordered local moment approach at finite temperatures
• Two-band ferromagnetic Kondo-lattice model for local-moment half-metals
• Influence of image forces on the interlayer exchange interaction in magnetic tunnel junctions with ferroelectric barrier