Electronic structure of Ni sub 2-x Pd sub x TiSn alloys

We report on magnetic and electronic structure investigations of the Ni sub 2-x Pd sub x TiSn Heusler-type alloys. The ab initio electronic structure calculations using the linearized muffin-tin orbital (LMTO) method are in good agreement with the measured x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) valence band spectra. While Pd sub 2 TiSn and Ni sub 2 TiSn are paramagnetic with a strongly enhanced low-temperature susceptibility, the Ni sub 2-x Pd sub x TiSn alloys with xapproxapprox0.5 exhibit a feature at 50 K that could be related to a magnetic transition. The susceptibility at higher temperatures suggest the presence of spin fluctations.