Spintronics research takes major step forward

Heusler alloys, which are composed of several metallic elements arranged in a lattice structure, are thought to hold the potential to enable much higher storage density. However, says the team, doubts have recently surfaced which question whether Heusler materials are suitable for this application. The researchers have demonstrated that the Heusler compound Co₂MnSi has the necessary electronic properties and say their findings provide the cornerstone for the future development of high performance spintronic devices. Potential applications include hard disk heads and non volatile storage. For the highest efficiency in spintronic applications, the spins of all current carrying electrons in a material should point in the same direction. "This class of materials has long been under investigation and there is substantial theoretical evidence for the required electronic properties of Heusler compounds, but no single experiment has previously been able to confirm 100% spin polarisation at room temperature," said Dr Martin Jourdan of JGU. "It is not merely a breakthrough in the search for new spintronic materials," he added, "but also in the interplay between theory and experiment. We were able to show that perfectly prepared materials actually have the properties that have been theoretically predicted."