Guidelines for understanding cubic manganese-rich Heusler compounds

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the magnetic properties of non-centrosymmetric cubic Mn2-based Heusler compounds, highlighting their ferrimagnetic order and potential for spintronics and magnetic applications.

Contribution

It offers new guidelines for understanding magnetism in Mn2-based Heusler compounds, linking their structure to magnetic properties and Curie temperatures.

Findings

Ferrimagnetic order due to antiparallel Mn moments

Formation of magnetic order explained by band structure calculations

Guidelines established for understanding magnetism in Mn2-based Heusler compounds

Abstract

Manganese-rich Heusler compounds are attracting much interest in the context of spin transfer torque and rare-earth free hard magnets. Here we give a comprehensive overview of the magnetic properties of non-centrosymmetric cubic Mn$_2$-based Heusler materials, which are characterized by an antiparallel coupling of magnetic moments on Mn atoms. Such a ferrimagnetic order leads to the emergence of new properties that are absent in ferromagnetic centrosymmetric Heusler structures. In terms of the band structure calculations, we explain the formation of this magnetic order and the Curie temperatures. This overview is intended to establish guidelines for a basic understanding of magnetism in Mn2 -based Heusler compounds.