Half-Metallic Magnetism of Quaternary Heusler Compounds Co2Fe x Mn1−x Si(x =0,0.5, and 1.0): First-Principles Calculations

Abstract

Using first-principles calculations, the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of ferromagnetic half-metallic full-Heusler Co2FeSi, Co2MnSi and Co2 Fe 0.5Mn 0.5Si alloy via the full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave (FP-LAPW) method in the generalized gradient (GGA) and GGA + U approximations are compared with other experimental and theoretical results. The electronic band structures and density of states (DOS) of the compounds indicate they are half metallic because of the existence of the energy gap in the minority spin (DOS and band structure), which yields perfect spin polarization. The half metallicity of the obtained material may prove useful for applications in spin-polarizers and spin-injectors of magnetic nanodevices. The calculated total spin magnetic moments are almost exactly that expected from the Slater-Pauling rule.