0000000000870634
AUTHOR
Juergen Winterlik
A Ni-based Superconductor: the Heusler Compound ZrNi$_2$Ga
This work reports on the novel Heusler superconductor ZrNi2Ga. Compared to other nickel-based superconductors with Heusler structure, ZrNi2Ga exhibits a relatively high superconducting transition temperature of Tc=2.9 K and an upper critical field of 1.5 T. Electronic structure calculations show that this relatively high transition temperature is caused by a van Hove singularity, which leads to an enhanced density of states at the Fermi energy. The van Hove singularity originates from a higher order valence instability at the L-point in the electronic structure. The enhanced density of states at the Fermi level was confirmed by specific heat and susceptibility measurements. Although many He…
Quaternary half-metallic Heusler ferromagnets for spintronics applications
This work reports on three quaternary Heusler compounds NiFeMnGa, NiCoMnGa, and CuCoMnGa. In contrast to their ternary relatives, quaternary Heusler compounds are still rarely investigated. A very large pool of interesting materials lies thus idle waiting for exploration. The difficulty consists in choosing prospective compositions, and trial and error is elaborate and expensive. We have identified several candidates employing ab initioelectronic-structure calculations. The compounds were synthesized, and the structural and magnetic properties were investigated experimentally. CuCoMnGa is a quaternary Heusler compound; NiFeMnGa and NiCoMnGa are unreported half-metallic ferromagnetic materia…
Quaternary Heusler compounds Co(2-x)Rh(x)MnZ (Z = Ga, Sn, Sb): crystal structure, electronic structure, and magnetic properties.
Within the huge family of Heusler compounds only a few quaternary derivatives are known that crystallize in the F43m space group. In this work, the yet unreported compounds CoRhMnZ (Z = Ga, Sn, Sb) and the alloy Co(0.5)Rh(1.5)MnSb were investigated in detail by experimental techniques and theoretical methods. The ab initio calculations predict the CoRhMnZ compounds to be half-metallic ferromagnets or to be close to the half-metallic ferromagnetic state. Calculations of the elastic constants show that the cubic structure is stable in compounds containing Mn. Both calculations and experiment reveal that Mn cannot be exchanged by Fe (CoRhFeGa). The low temperature magnetization of the compound…