1302.2487 (Markus Meinert et al.)

Formation enthalpies of chromium based compensated ferrimagnets with
inverse Heusler structure    [PDF]

Markus Meinert, Manuel Geisler

Chromium based inverse Heusler compounds of the type Cr2YZ (Y=Co, Fe; Z=Al, Ga, In, Si, Ge, Sn) have been proposed as fully compensated half-metallic ferrimagnets. Such materials are of large interest for spintronics because they combine small magnetic moment with high spin polarization over a wider temperature range. We assess their thermochemical stability by their formation enthalpies obtained from density functional theory calculations. We find that Cr2FeSi and Cr2CoAl are possibly stable, but Cr2FeSi is nonmagnetic. Cr2FeGe and Cr2CoGa have small positive formation enthalpy, so the inverse Heusler phase can only be realized at non-equilibrium. Cr2FeSn and Cr2CoIn are found to be unstable. We predict a Curie temperature of 1015 K for Cr2CoAl, which we propose as a candidate for further investigation.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1302.2487