Mn-Stabilized Zirconia: From Imitation Diamonds to a New Potential High-T_C Ferromagnetic Spintronics Material

摘要

From the basis of ab initio electronic structure calculations which include the effects of thermally excited magnetic fluctuations, we predict Mn-stabilized cubic zirconia to be ferromagnetic above 500 K. We find this material, which is well known both as an imitation diamond and as a catalyst, to be half-metallic with the majority and minority spin Mn impurity states lying in zirconia's wide gap. The Mn concentration can exceed 40%. The high-T_C ferromagnetism is robust to oxygen vacancy defects and to how the Mn impurities are distributed on the Zr fcc sublattice. We propose this ceramic as a promising future spintronics material.