Spin-dependent lifetimes and nondegenerate spin-orbit driven hybridization points in Heusler compounds

We present an ab initio calculation of the k- and spin-resolved electronic lifetimes in the half-metallic Heusler compounds Co sub(2)MnSi and Co sub(2)FeSi. We determine the spin-flip and spin-conserving contributions to the lifetimes and study in detail the behavior of the lifetimes around states t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. B, Condensed matter and materials physics Condensed matter and materials physics, 2014-03, Vol.89 (11), Article 115127
Main Authors: Kaltenborn, Steffen, Schneider, Hans Christian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bands
Condensed matter
Dynamics
Electronics
Excitation
Mathematical analysis
Polarization
Spin-orbit interactions
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Summary:We present an ab initio calculation of the k- and spin-resolved electronic lifetimes in the half-metallic Heusler compounds Co sub(2)MnSi and Co sub(2)FeSi. We determine the spin-flip and spin-conserving contributions to the lifetimes and study in detail the behavior of the lifetimes around states that are strongly spin mixed by spin-orbit coupling. We find that for nondegenerate bands the spin mixing alone does not determine the energy dependence of the (spin-flip) lifetimes. Qualitatively, the lifetimes reflect the lineup of electron and hole bands. We predict that different excitation conditions lead to drastically different spin-flip dynamics of excited electrons and may even give rise to an enhancement of the non equilibrium spin polarization.
ISSN:1098-0121
1550-235X
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.89.115127