Non-collinear Magnetic states of Mn5Ge3 compound

Abstract

Mn5Ge3 thin films epitaxially grown on Ge(111) exhibit metallic conductivity and strong ferromagnetism up to about 300 K. Recent experiments suggest a non-collinear spin structure. In order to gain deep insights into the magnetic structure of this compound, we have performed fully unconstrained ab-initio pseudopotential calculations within density functional theory, investigating the different magnetic states corresponding to Collinear (C) and Non-Collinear (NC) spin configurations. We focus on their relative stability under pressure and strain field. Under pressure, the C and NC configurations are degenerate, suggesting the possible occurrence of accidental magnetic degeneracy also in Mn5Ge3 real samples. We found a continuous transition from a ferromagnetic C low-spin state at small volumes to a NC high-spin state at higher volumes. Remarkably, the degeneracy is definitely removed under the effect of uniaxial strain: in particular, NC spin configurations is favoured under tensile uniaxial strain.

13 pages,2 Tables, 5 figures, Revised Version, Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing (in press)

References in corpus (3)

• Linear magnetization dependence of the intrinsic anomalous Hall effect
• First-principles characterization of ferromagnetic Mn5Ge3 for spintronic applications
• Spin Polarization and Electonic Structure of Room-Curie Ferromagnetic Mn5Ge3 Epilayers

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• Magnetotransport in ferromagnetic Mn5Ge3, Mn5Ge3C0.8, and Mn5Si3C0.8 thin films
• {Spin polarization tuning in Mn${}_x$Fe${}_{1-x}$Ge${}_3$
• X-ray magnetic circular dichroism in (Ge,Mn) compounds: experiments and modeling
• Enhanced Curie temperature and room-temperature 50-nm skyrmions achieved in hexagonal ferromagnet Mn5Ge3+x synthesized via a high-pressure method