Half-metallicity of the ferrimagnet Mn2VAl revealed by resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering in a magnetic field

Abstract

Detailed information on the electronic states of both V and Mn $3d$ electrons in the ferrimagnet $\mathrm{M}{\mathrm{n}}_{2}\mathrm{VAl}$ is obtained by bulk sensitive resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering (SX-RIXS) excited with circularly polarized light under an external magnetic field. The results under the V $L$-edge excitation have revealed the negligible partial density of states (PDOS) of the V $3d$ states around the Fermi energy as well as their rather localized character. Under the Mn $L$-edge excitation, on the other hand, the spectra are dominated by fluorescence with clear magnetic circular dichroism with noticeable excitation photon energy dependence. Compared with the theoretical prediction of the RIXS spectra based on the density-functional-theory band structure calculation, an itinerant, spin-dependent character of the Mn $3d$ states and decays of the Mn $2p$ core states are confirmed in consistence with the half-metallicity of the Mn $3d$ states.