Manipulating carriers' spin polarization in the Heusler alloy Mn2CoAlShow others and affiliations
2015 (English)In: RSC Advances, ISSN 2046-2069, E-ISSN 2046-2069, Vol. 5, no 90, p. 73814-73819Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
We report that complete spin polarization and controllable spin polarization of carriers can be simultaneously realized in the Heusler alloy Mn2CoAl simply by applying external pressures based on first-principles studies. At ambient conditions, Mn2CoAl is a ferromagnetic spin-gapless semiconductor (SGS) with complete spin polarization. Under hydrostatic pressures up to 40 GPa, Mn2CoAl undergoes a series of electronic transitions from SGS with spin-up as a conducting channel to a ferromagnetic semiconductor and then to SGS with spin-down as a conducting channel and finally to a half metal, during which the magnetic moment remains as 2 mB. Such rich electronic transitions are attributed to different responses of the spin-up and spin-down electrons under pressure. This work highlights a desirable way to control the carrier's spin polarization and provides a new insight into the electron behavior in Mn2CoAl related Heusler alloys under pressure.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2015. Vol. 5, no 90, p. 73814-73819
National Category
Chemical Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-264684DOI: 10.1039/c5ra13673cISI: 000360860500056OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-264684DiVA, id: diva2:861267
Funder
Swedish Research Council2015-10-162015-10-152017-12-01Bibliographically approved