Tunable damping, saturation magnetization, and exchange stiffness of half-Heusler NiMnSb thin films

The half-metallic half-Heusler alloy NiMnSb is a promising candidate for applications in spintronic devices due to its low magnetic damping and its rich anisotropies. Here we use ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements and calculations from first principles to investigate how the composition of t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. B, Condensed matter and materials physics Condensed matter and materials physics, 2015, Vol.92 (21), Article 214424
Main Authors: Dürrenfeld, P., Gerhard, F., Chico, J., Dumas, R. K., Ranjbar, M., Bergman, A., Bergqvist, L., Delin, A., Gould, C., Molenkamp, L. W., Åkerman, J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
alloy nimnsb
excitation
ferromagnetic metals
Fysik
molecular-beam epitaxy
oscillator driven
Physical Sciences
polarization
spin
torque
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Summary:The half-metallic half-Heusler alloy NiMnSb is a promising candidate for applications in spintronic devices due to its low magnetic damping and its rich anisotropies. Here we use ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements and calculations from first principles to investigate how the composition of the epitaxially grown NiMnSb influences the magnetodynamic properties of saturation magnetization M-S, Gilbert damping alpha, and exchange stiffness A. M-S and A are shown to have a maximum for stoichiometric composition, while the Gilbert damping is minimum. We find excellent quantitative agreement between theory and experiment for M-S and alpha. The calculated A shows the same trend as the experimental data but has a larger magnitude. In addition to the unique in-plane anisotropy of the material, these tunabilities of the magnetodynamic properties can be taken advantage of when employing NiMnSb films in magnonic devices.
ISSN:1098-0121
1550-235X
1550-235X
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.92.214424