Ferrimagnetism in epitaxially grown Mn_2VAl Heusler alloy investigated by means of soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism

摘要

Epitaxially grown Mn_2VAl films were fabricated on MgO (001) single crystalline substrates by using a sputtering technique. The resulting Mn_2VAl films with substrate temperatures of T_s = 500 and 600 ℃ showed an L2_1-ordered structure. The saturation magnetization was 150 emu/cm~3 at 300 K for a sample with T_s = 600 ℃. Ferrimagnetic coupling between the Mn and V magnetic moments in the L2_1-Mn_2VAl film was clearly demonstrated by soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. In previous studies, this coupling was found only in polycrystalline bulk samples examined by nuclear magnetic resonance.