Structural Stability, Electronic and Magnetic Properties of (Ni1−xCox)2MnSn Quaternary Heusler Alloys

Abstract

In this study, we present the calculated structural, electronic and magnetic properties of mixed Heusler alloys (Ni[Formula: see text]Co[Formula: see text]MnSn. Using ab initio calculations with the full-potential augmented plane-wave method (FP-LAPW), we evaluated the various possible configurations of Ni and Co sites in the (Ni[Formula: see text]Co[Formula: see text]MnSn crystallographic lattice. The lowest energy configuration is determined based on energetic considerations. The calculated equilibrium lattice parameters and magnetic moments are in a reasonable agreement with available experimental data. Of interest, we found that the change of total magnetic moment can be interpreted as a linear variation of the magnetic moment of manganese and cobalt atoms.