Doping of Mn$_2$VAl and Mn$_2$VSi Heusler alloys as a route to half-metallic antiferromagnetism

Abstract

Half-metallic antiferromagnets are the ideal materials for spintronic applications since their zero magnetization leads to lower stray fields and thus tiny energy losses. Starting from the Mn$_2$VAl and Mn$_2$VSi alloys we substitute Co or Fe for Mn and we show by means of first-principle electronic structure calculations that the resulting compounds are ferrimagnets. When the total number of valence electrons reaches the magic number of 24 the Fe-doped compounds are semi-metals and thus non-magnetic while the Co-doped ones show the desirable half-metallic antiferromagnetic character. The compounds are very likely to be synthesized experimentally since the parent compounds, Mn$_2$VAl and Co$_2$VAl, have been already grown in the Heusler $L2_1$ lattice structure.