Disorder effects in half-metallic Sr2FeMoO6 single crystals
Double perovskites such as Sr2FeMoO6 (SFMO) have been predicted to be half-metallic (100% spin polarized). However, this conclusion is reached under the assumption that SFMO has a perfect crystalline structure. We measure the values of spin polarization P for SFMO single crystals with 11%, 15%, and...
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Veröffentlicht in: | Applied physics letters 2009-01, Vol.94 (1) |
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Hauptverfasser: | , , , , |
Format: | Artikel |
Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | Double perovskites such as Sr2FeMoO6 (SFMO) have been predicted to be half-metallic (100% spin polarized). However, this conclusion is reached under the assumption that SFMO has a perfect crystalline structure. We measure the values of spin polarization P for SFMO single crystals with 11%, 15%, and 16% of B-site disorder using the point contact Andreev reflection technique. The highest spin polarization of P≈70% was determined. Using local spin density approximation, we compute P≈53% for the degree of B-site disorder of 12.5% in good agreement with the experimental results. While our results show that imperfect SFMO is not a half-metal, the observed correlation between the degree of antisite disorder, the magnetic properties, and the values of spin polarization implies that a perfectly ordered SFMO crystal might be half-metallic. |
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ISSN: | 0003-6951 1077-3118 |
DOI: | 10.1063/1.3058441 |