Magnetic Damping Properties of Single-Crystalline Co55Mn18Ga27 and Co50Mn18Ga32 Films

Abstract

We investigate the structural, static magnetic and damping properties in two Mn-deficient magnetic Weyl semimetal Co-Mn-Ga (CMG) alloy films, i.e., Co55Mn18Ga27 (CMG1) and Co50Mn18Ga32 (CMG2), which were epitaxially grown on MgO (001) substrates. CMG1 has a mixing phase of B 2 and L21, larger saturation magnetization (M s ∼ 760 emu/cm3), stronger in-plane magnetic anisotropy. CMG2 has an almost pure B2 phase, smaller M s (∼ 330 emu/cm3), negligible in-plane magnetic anisotropy. Time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect results unambiguously demonstrate an obvious perpendicular standing spin wave (PSSW) mode in addition to the Kittel mode for both of the CMG films. The intrinsic damping constant is about 0.0055 and 0.015 for CMG1 and CMG2, respectively, which are both significantly larger than that of the stoichiometric CMG (i.e., Co2MnGa) film reported previously. In combination with the first-principles calculations, the intrinsic damping properties of the Mn-deficient CMG films can be well explained by considering the increase of density of states at the Fermi level, reduction of M s, and excitation of the PSSW mode. These findings provide a new clue to tuning the magnetic damping of the magnetic Weyl semimetal film through slight off-stoichiometry.