Design of magnetic materials: Co$_2$Cr$_{1-x}$Fe$_{x}$Al

TL;DR

This study investigates doped Heusler compounds Co$_2$Cr$_{1-x}$Fe$_{x}$Al, combining experimental and theoretical methods to analyze their electronic structure, magnetic properties, and the effects of doping and structural order.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the electronic and magnetic properties of doped Co$_2$Cr$_{1-x}$Fe$_{x}$Al Heusler compounds, including the impact of doping and structural disorder.

Findings

All compounds are ferromagnetic with small Al magnetic moments aligned antiparallel.

A gap around the Fermi energy exists in the minority bands, with a transition from indirect to direct gap upon doping.

Magnetic moments increase with Fe content; Cr moments decrease due to site disorder.

Abstract

Doped Heusler compounds Co$_2$Cr$_{1-x}$Fe$_{x}$Al with varying Cr to Fe ratio $x$ were investigated experimentally and theoretically. The electronic structure of the ordered, doped Heusler compound Co$_2$Cr$_{1-x}$Fe$_{x}$Al ($x=n/4, n=0,1,2,3,4)$ was calculated using different types of band structure calculations. The ordered compounds turned out to be ferromagnetic with small Al magnetic moment being aligned anti-parallel to the 3d transition metal moments. All compounds show a gap around the Fermi-energy in the minority bands. The pure compounds exhibit an indirect minority gap, whereas the ordered, doped compounds exhibit a direct gap. Magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) in X-ray absorption spectra was measured at the $L_{2,3}$ edges of Co, Fe, and Cr of the pure compounds and the $x=0.4$ alloy in order to determine element specific magnetic moments. Calculations and measurements show an increase of the magnetic moments with increasing iron content. The experimentally observed reduction of the magnetic moment of Cr can be explained by Co-Cr site-disorder. The presence of the gap in the minority bands of Co$_2$CrAl can be attributed to the occurrence of pure Co$_2$ and mixed CrAl (001)-planes in the $L2_1$ structure. It is retained in structures with different order of the CrAl planes but vanishes in the $X$-structure with alternating CoCr and CoAl planes.