Abstract
Off-stoichiometry, epitaxial thin films exhibit or chemical order, even far from stoichiometry. Theoretical calculations show the magnetic moment is strongly enhanced in the fully chemically disordered phase, while both theoretical and experimental results show that the magnetization is nearly the same in the and phases, meaning partial chemical disorder does not influence the magnetism. The dependencies of the magnetic moments are directly and nonlinearly linked to the number of Si atoms, primarily nearest neighbor but also to a lesser extent (up to 10%) next nearest neighbor, surrounding Fe, explaining the similarities between and and the strong enhancement for the structure. The calculated electronic density of states shows many similarities in both structure and spin polarization between the and structures, while the structure exhibits disorder broadening and a reduced spin polarization.
- Received 20 April 2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.144402
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