Lukas Wollmann

Basics and prospective of magnetic Heusler compounds

Heusler compounds are a remarkable class of materials with more than 1000 members and a wide range of extraordinary multi-functionalities including halfmetallic high-temperature ferri- and ferromagnets, multi-ferroics, shape memory alloys, and tunable topological insulators with a high potential for spintronics, energy technologies, and magneto-caloric applications. The tunability of this class of materials is exceptional and nearly every functionality can be designed. Co2-Heusler compounds show high spin polarization in tunnel junction devices and spin-resolved photoemission. Manganese-rich Heusler compounds attract much interest in the context of spin transfer torque, spin Hall effect, and rare earth free hard magnets. Most Mn2-Heusler compounds crystallize in the inverse structure and are characterized by antiparallel coupling of magnetic moments on Mn atoms; the ferrimagnetic order and the lack of inversion symmetry lead to the emergence of new properties that are absent in ferromagnetic centrosymmetric Heusler structures, such as non-collinear magnetism, topological Hall effect, and skyrmions. Tetragonal Heusler compounds with large magneto crystalline anisotropy can be easily designed by positioning the Fermi energy at the van Hove singularity in one of the spin channels. Here, we give a comprehensive overview and a prospective on the magnetic properties of Heusler materials.

Magnetism in cubic manganese-rich Heusler compounds

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 Mn2-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.

Compensated Ferrimagnetic Tetragonal Heusler Thin Films for Antiferromagnetic Spintronics

Fully compensated ferrimagnets with tetragonal crystal structure have the potential for large spin-polarization and strong out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy; hence, they are ideal candidates for high-density-memory applications. Tetragonal Heusler thin films with compensated magnetic state are realized by substitution of Pt in Mn3-x Ptx Ga. Furthermore, the bilayer formed from compensated/uncompensated Mn-Pt-Ga layers is utilized to accomplish exchange bias up to room temperature.

Magnetism in tetragonal manganese-rich Heusler compounds

A comprehensive study of the total energy of manganese-rich Heusler compounds using density functional theory is presented. Starting from a large set of cubic parent systems, the response to tetragonal distortions is studied in detail. We single out the systems that remain cubic from those that most likely become tetragonal. The driving force of the tetragonal distortion and its effect on the magnetic properties, especially where they deviate from the Slater--Pauling rule, as well as the trends in the Curie temperatures, are highlighted. By means of partial densities of states, the electronic structural changes reveal the microscopic origin of the observed trends. We focus our attention on the magnetocrystalline anisotropy and find astonishingly high values for tetragonal Heusler compounds containing heavy transition metals accompanied by low magnetic moments, which indicates that these materials are promising candidates for spin-transfer torque magnetization-switching applications.

Heusler 4.0: Tunable Materials

Heusler compounds are a large family of binary, ternary, and quaternary compounds that exhibit a wide range of properties of both fundamental and potential technological interest. The extensive tunability of the Heusler compounds through chemical substitutions and structural motifs makes the family especially interesting. In this article we highlight recent major developments in the field of Heusler compounds and put these in the historical context. The evolution of the Heusler compounds can be described by four major periods of research. In the latest period, Heusler 4.0 has led to the observation of a variety of properties derived from topology that includes topological metals with Weyl and Dirac points; a variety of noncollinear spin textures, including the very recent observation of skyrmions at room temperature; and giant anomalous Hall effects in antiferromagnetic Heuslers with triangular magnetic structures. Here we give a comprehensive overview of these major achievements and set research into Heu...

Chemical disorder as an engineering tool for spin polarization in Mn3Ga-based Heusler systems

Our study highlights spin-polarization mechanisms in metals by focusing on the mobilities of conducting electrons with different spins instead of their quantities. Here, we engineer electron mobility by applying chemical disorder induced by nonstoichiometric variations. As a practical example, we discuss the scheme that establishes such variations in tetragonal

A scheme for spin-selective electron localization in Mn3Ga Heusler material

{\mathrm{Mn}}_{3}\mathrm{Ga}

Resonant impurity states in chemically disordered half-Heusler Dirac semimetals

Heusler material. We justify this approach using first-principles calculations of the spin-projected conductivity components based on the Kubo-Greenwood formalism. It follows that, in the majority of cases, even a small substitution of some other transition element instead of Mn may lead to a substantial increase in spin polarization along the tetragonal axis.

Tunable damping in the Heusler compound Co2-xIrxMnSi

We demonstrate that tetragonal Mn3Ga Heusler material allows for a new possibility of adjusting an electric current by means of the so-called spin-selective localization of conduction electrons. On the basis of a first-principles analysis, we propose possible chemical substitutes for Mn, which, when used in small quantities, can lead to a disorder-induced localization of the conduction electrons in a single spin channel. Replacement of the Mn in Mn3 − xYxGa with other 3d transition metals Y is known not to change the tetragonal structure for a certain range of x. For Y = Co the range is x ≤ 0.5. Therefore, substitution of Co for Mn is used in the present work as a prototype procedure for a detailed demonstration of the underlying physical mechanisms.

Tunable damping in the Heusler compound Co_{2-x}Ir_{x}MnSi

We address the electron transport characteristics in bulk half-Heusler alloys with their compositions tuned to the borderline between topologically nontrivial semimetallic and trivial semiconducting phases. Accurate first-principles calculations based on the coherent potential approximation (CPA) reveal that all the studied systems exhibit sets of dispersionless impurity-like resonant levels, with one of them being located at the Dirac point. By means of the Kubo-Bastin formalism we reveal that the residual conductivity of these alloys is strongly suppressed by impurity scattering, whereas the spin Hall conductivity exhibits a rather complex behavior induced by the resonant states. In particular for LaPt0.5Pd0.5Bi we find that the total spin Hall conductivity is strongly suppressed by two large and opposite contributions: the negative Fermi-surface contribution produced by the resonant impurity and the positive Fermi-sea term stemming from the occupied states. At the same time, we identify no conductivity contributions from the conical states.