The antiphase boundary in half-metallic Heusler alloy Co2Fe(Al,Si): atomic structure, spin polarization reversal, and domain wall effects

Atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy reveals the presence of an antiphase boundary in the half-metallic Co2Fe(Al,Si) full Heusler alloy. By employing thedensity functional theory calculations, we show that this defect leads to reversal of the sign of the spin-polarization in the vicinity of the defect. In addition, we show that this defect reduces the strength of theexchange interactions, without changing theferromagnetic ordering across the boundary. Atomistic spin calculations predict that this effect reduces the width of themagnetic domain wall compared to that in the bulk.

Source: Applied Physics Letters - December 2, 2016 Category: Physics Authors: Zlatko Nedelkoski, Ana M. Sanchez, Arsham Ghasemi, Kohei Hamaya, Richard F. L. Evans, Gavin R. Bell, Atsufumi Hirohata and Vlado K. Lazarov Source Type: research