Theoretical analysis of highly spin-polarized transport in the iron nitride Fe4N

By S. Kokado, N. Fujima, K. Harigaya, H. Shimizu, A. Sakuma. 2006

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In order to propose a ferromagnet exhibiting highly spin-polarized transport, we theoretically analyzed the spin polarization ratio of the conductivity of the bulk Fe4N with a perovskite type structure, in which N is located at the body center position of fcc-Fe. The spin polarization ratio is defined by P = (�" �#)/(�" +�#), with �"(#) being the conductivity at zero temperature of the up spin (down spin). The conductivity is obtained by using the Kubo formula and the Slater-Koster tight binding model, where parameters are determined from the least-square fitting of the dispersion curves by the tight binding model to those by the first principles calculation. In the vicinity of the Fermi energy, |P| takes almost 1.0, indicating perfectly spin-polarized transport. In addition, by comparing Fe4N to fcc-Fe (Fe4N0) in the ferromagnetic state with the equilibrium lattice constant of Fe4N, it is shown that the non-magnetic atom N plays an important role in increasing |P|.

Subfields: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Materials Chemistry, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9f4da9e397deb0b5455741af78de6f560deca64a