Half-metallicity of the ferrimagnet $\mathrm{M}{\mathrm{n}}_{2}\mathrm{VAl}$ revealed by resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering in a magnetic field

Half-metallicity of the ferrimagnet $M n_{2} VAl$ revealed by resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering in a magnetic field

R.Y. Umetsu, H. Fujiwara, K. Nagai, Y. Nakatani, M. Kawada, A. Sekiyama, F. Kuroda, H. Fujii, T. Oguchi, Y. Harada, J. Miyawaki, and S. Suga

Phys. Rev. B 99, 134414 – Published 9 April 2019

Abstract

Detailed information on the electronic states of both V and Mn $3 d$ electrons in the ferrimagnet $M n_{2} VAl$ is obtained by bulk sensitive resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering (SX-RIXS) excited with circularly polarized light under an external magnetic field. The results under the V $L$ -edge excitation have revealed the negligible partial density of states (PDOS) of the V $3 d$ states around the Fermi energy as well as their rather localized character. Under the Mn $L$ -edge excitation, on the other hand, the spectra are dominated by fluorescence with clear magnetic circular dichroism with noticeable excitation photon energy dependence. Compared with the theoretical prediction of the RIXS spectra based on the density-functional-theory band structure calculation, an itinerant, spin-dependent character of the Mn $3 d$ states and decays of the Mn $2 p$ core states are confirmed in consistence with the half-metallicity of the Mn $3 d$ states.

Received 22 October 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.99.134414

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Magnetic order

Half-metals

Density functional theory Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

R.Y. Umetsu^1,*, H. Fujiwara², K. Nagai², Y. Nakatani², M. Kawada², A. Sekiyama^2,3, F. Kuroda^4,5, H. Fujii^4,5, T. Oguchi^3,4,5, Y. Harada⁶, J. Miyawaki⁶, and S. Suga^4,7

¹Institute for Materials Research and Center for Spintronics Research Network, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
²Division of Materials Physics, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, 1-3 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan
³Center for Spintronics Research Network, Osaka University, 1-3 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan
⁴Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University, 8-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki 567-0047, Japan
⁵CMI2-MaDIS, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan
⁶Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan and Synchrotron Radiation Research Organization, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Koto, Sayo-cho, Sayo, Hyogo 679-5148, Japan
⁷Forschungszentrum Jülich, PGI-6, 52425 Jülich, Germany

^*rieume@imr.tohoku.ac.jp

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Vol. 99, Iss. 13 — 1 April 2019

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Figure 1
XAS and RIXS spectra for V and $Mn L_{3}$ edges. (a), (b) are XAS for the V and the $Mn L_{3}$ edges, respectively, at 20 K and 2 T magnetic field [18]. (c), (d) are the RIXS spectra for the V and the $Mn L_{3}$ edges, respectively, obtained at room temperature. In (c), (d), the RIXS spectra were measured by parallel ( $μ^{+}$ ) and antiparallel ( $μ^{-}$ ) configurations between the light helicity and the direction of the magnetic field. The numbers above the vertical bars on the XAS indicate the excitation photon energy $h v_{in}$ for the RIXS spectra.
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Figure 2
Intensity maps of $h v_{in}$ -dependent RIXS and MCD at V and $Mn L_{3}$ edges in $M n_{2} VAl$ . (a), (b) are the intensity maps of the RIXS of V as a function of $h v_{in}$ obtained at room temperature in a magnetic field of 0.25 T for $μ^{+}$ and $μ^{-}$ configurations. RIXS-MCD is given by $μ^{+} - μ^{-}$ in (c). (d)–(f) show the corresponding results for the $Mn L_{3}$ edge.
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Figure 3
Representative RIXS spectra for V and $Mn L_{3}$ edges, and theoretically predicted PDOSs of Mn, V, and Al in $M n_{2} VAl$ . RIXS spectra recorded for $μ^{+}$ and $μ^{-}$ configurations at incoming photon energy $h v_{in}$ of 512.5 eV (a) and 638.6 eV (b) at the V and $Mn L_{3}$ edges, respectively, together with the MCD. (a), (b) include simulated spectra based on the DFT for V and $Mn L_{3}$ edges, respectively. (c) shows the theoretical prediction of the spin-dependent total DOS as well as PDOSs of Mn, V, and Al [18]. (d), (e) correspond to the $e_{g}$ and $t_{2 g}$ components of the partial DOSs of V and Mn, respectively [18].
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Figure 4
RIXS and RIXS-MCD spectra for $Mn L_{3}$ edges. (a1)–(a6) show the experimental RIXS results for the $μ^{+}$ and $μ^{-}$ configurations and their MCD spectra for the $Mn L_{3}$ edge as a function of the energy loss. Theoretically calculated RIXS and RIXS-MCD spectra based on DFT calculation are in (b1)–(b6). The definition of $h ν_{1}$ is given in the text. (c1)–(c6) show $m_{j}$ resolved RIXS-MCD spectra for the $Mn L_{3}$ edge, and the summation of the whole components of these spectra corresponds to the RIXS-MCD spectra in (b1)–(b6).
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Figure 5
Schematic views of the RIXS-MCD processes in the case of half-metallic density of states. Excitation from the Zeeman split $2 p m_{j}$ core states is considered in the present simulation as indicated in the table and the Zeeman splitting is around 0.5 eV due to the effective magnetic field. The difference of the photon energy $(h v_{in})$ from the energy $E_{2 p 0}$ between the Fermi energy $(E_{F})$ and the Mn $2 p m_{j} = - 3 / 2$ state is given here by $h v_{1}$ . PDOS of the up- (down-) spin states is schematically shown on the left- (right-) hand side of the energy axis (vertical axis) in each panel. A gap of 0.3 eV from the $E_{F}$ to the bottom of the DOS in the majority up-spin state is also employed. The spin is thought to be fully down and up in the $m_{j} = - 3 / 2$ and $+ 3 / 2$ states, respectively. On the other hand, the spin at $m_{j} = - 1 / 2$ and $+ 1 / 2$ states is composed of both spin-up and -down states due to the spin-orbit coupling. The width of the arrows corresponds to the transition probability.
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Physical Review B

covering condensed matter and materials physics

Half-metallicity of the ferrimagnet $M n_{2} VAl$ revealed by resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering in a magnetic field

R.Y. Umetsu, H. Fujiwara, K. Nagai, Y. Nakatani, M. Kawada, A. Sekiyama, F. Kuroda, H. Fujii, T. Oguchi, Y. Harada, J. Miyawaki, and S. Suga

Phys. Rev. B 99, 134414 – Published 9 April 2019

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Half-metallicity of the ferrimagnet Mn2VAl revealed by resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering in a magnetic field

R.Y. Umetsu, H. Fujiwara, K. Nagai, Y. Nakatani, M. Kawada, A. Sekiyama, F. Kuroda, H. Fujii, T. Oguchi, Y. Harada, J. Miyawaki, and S. Suga

Phys. Rev. B 99, 134414 – Published 9 April 2019

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Half-metallicity of the ferrimagnet $M n_{2} VAl$ revealed by resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering in a magnetic field