Comparison between experiment and calculated band structures for DyN and SmN

We investigate the electronic band structure of two of the rare-earth nitrides, DyN and SmN. Resistivity measurements imply that both materials have a semiconducting ground state, and both show resistivity anomalies coinciding with the magnetic transition, despite the different magnetic states in DyN and SmN. X-ray absorption and emission measurements are in excellent agreement with densities of states obtained from $\mathrm{LSDA}+U$ calculations, although for SmN the calculations predict a zero band gap.

Figure 1

(Color online) Magnetization and resistivity of (a) DyN and (b) SmN (insets show magnetization versus field at $5\mathrm{K}$). Blue symbols show zero-field-cooled magnetization data, and red symbols show field-cooled data.

Figure 2

(Color online) Measured x-ray absorption (thick black line) and emission (thin black line) for (a) DyN, (b) SmN, and (c) GdN (Ref. 12), compared to the calculated nitrogen PDOS. The calculations are performed both with (solid lines) and without (dotted lines) including the core hole. The inset to (c) compares the measured absorption for all three materials.