Effect Of Disorder On The Magnetic And Electronic Structure Of A Prospective Spin-Gapless Semiconductor Mncrval

Authors

P. Kharel, South Dakota State UniversityFollow
J. Herran, University of Northern IowaFollow
P. Lukashev, University of Northern IowaFollow
Y. Jin, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
J. Waybright, South Dakota State UniversityFollow
S. Gilbert, South Dakota State UniversityFollow
B. Staten, University of Northern IowaFollow
P. Gray, University of Northern IowaFollow
S. Valloppilly, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
Y. Huh, South Dakota State UniversityFollow
D. J. Sellmyer, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book/Conference Title

AIP Advances

Volume

7

Issue

5

Abstract

Recent discovery of a new class of materials, spin-gapless semiconductors (SGS), has attracted considerable attention in the last few years, primarily due to potential applications in the emerging field of spin-based electronics (spintronics). Here, we investigate structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of one potential SGS compound, MnCrVAl, using various experimental and theoretical techniques. Our calculations show that this material exhibits - 0.5 eV band gap for the majority-spin states, while for the minority-spin it is nearly gapless. The calculated magnetic moment for the completely ordered structure is 2.9 μB/f.u., which is different from our experimentally measured value of almost zero. This discrepancy is explained by the structural disorder. In particular, A2 type disorder, where Mn or Cr atoms exchange their positions with Al atoms, results in induced antiferromagnetic exchange coupling, which, at a certain level of disorder, effectively reduces the total magnetic moment to zero. This is consistent with our x-ray diffraction measurements which indicate the presence of A2 disorder in all of our samples. In addition, we also show that B2 disorder does not result in antiferromagnetic exchange coupling and therefore does not significantly reduce the total magnetic moment.

Department

Department of Physics

Original Publication Date

5-1-2017

DOI of published version

10.1063/1.4972797

Repository

UNI ScholarWorks, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa

Language

en

Recommended Citation

Kharel, P.; Herran, J.; Lukashev, P.; Jin, Y.; Waybright, J.; Gilbert, S.; Staten, B.; Gray, P.; Valloppilly, S.; Huh, Y.; and Sellmyer, D. J., "Effect Of Disorder On The Magnetic And Electronic Structure Of A Prospective Spin-Gapless Semiconductor Mncrval" (2017). Faculty Publications. 896.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/facpub/896