Spin polarization of single-crystalline Co2MnSi films grown by PLD on GaAs(001)

Single-crystalline Co2MnSi Heusler alloy films have been grown on GaAs(001) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The best crystallographic quality has been achieved after deposition at 450K. Spin-resolved photoemission measurements at BESSY reveal spin-resolved density of states that are in qualitative agreement with recent band structure calculations. The spin polarization of photoelectrons close to the Fermi level is found to be at most 12% at room temperature, in contrast to the predicted half-metallic behavior. We suggest that this discrepancy may be attributed to a non-magnetic surface region and/or partial chemical disorder in the Co2MnSi lattice.