Giant Anomalous Hall Conductivity and Gilbert Damping in Room-temperature Ferromagnetic Half-Heusler Alloys PtMnBi

TL;DR

This study reveals that room-temperature ferromagnetic half-Heusler alloy PtMnBi exhibits giant anomalous Hall conductivity and significant Gilbert damping, making it promising for advanced spintronic applications.

Contribution

The paper provides a comprehensive first-principles and Monte Carlo analysis of PtMnBi's phases, highlighting its high Curie temperature, large AHC, and tunable damping in thin films under strain.

Findings

{eta}-phase has high Curie temperature (802 K)

extsuperscript{ extalpha}-phase shows large AHC and damping

Strain enhances AHC and damping in 1L extsuperscript{ extalpha}-phase films

Abstract

Half-Heusler alloys have emerged as promising candidates for novel spintronic applications due to their exceptional properties including the high Curie temperature (TC) above room temperature and large anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC). In this work, we systematically study the magnetic and electronic properties of PtMnBi in {\alpha}-, \{beta}-, and {\gamma}-phase using first-principles calculations and Monte Carlo simulations. The three phases are found to be ferromagnetic metals. In particular, the {\alpha}-phase PtMnBi shows a high TC up to 802 K and a relatively large Gilbert damping of 0.085. Additionally, the {\gamma}-phase PtMnBi possesses a non-negligible AHC, reaching 203 {\Omega}-1cm-1 at the Fermi level. To evaluate its potential in nanoscale devices, we further investigate the {\alpha}-phase PtMnBi thin films. The Gilbert dampings of {\alpha}-phase PtMnBi thin films varies with film thickness and we attribute this variation to the distinct band structures at the high-symmetry point {\Gamma}, which arise from differences in film thickness. Moreover, the 1-layer (1L) {\alpha}-phase thin film retains robust ferromagnetism (TC = 688 K) and shows enhanced Gilbert damping (0.14) and AHC (1116 {\Omega}-1cm-1) compared to the bulk. Intriguingly, under a 2% in-plane biaxial compressive strain, the Gilbert damping of 1L {\alpha}-phase PtMnBi thin film increases to 0.17 and the AHC reaches 2386 {\Omega}-1cm-1. The coexistence of giant Gilbert damping and large AHC makes {\alpha}-phase PtMnBi a compelling platform for practical spintronic applications, and highlights the potential of half-Heusler alloys in spintronic device design.