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The cubic Heusler alloy Ru$_{2-x}$Mn$_{1+x}$Al is grown in thin film form on MgO and MgAl$_2$O$_4$ substrates. It is a highly spin-polarised ferrimagnetic metal, with weak magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Although structurally and chemically similar to $\text{Mn}_2\text{Ru}_x\text{Ga}$, it does not exhibit ferrimagnetic compensation, or large magneto galvanic effects. The differences are attributed to a combination of atomic order and the hybridisation with the group 13 element Al or Ga. The spin polarisation is around 50 to 60 %. There is a gap in the density of states just above the Fermi level in fully ordered compounds., Comment: 8 pages , 7 figures, 2 tables

All-optical re-switching has been investigated in the half-metallic Heusler ferrimagnet Mn2Ru0.9Ga, where Mn atoms occupy two inequivalent sites in the XA-type structure. The effect of a second 200 fs 800 nm pump pulse that follows a first pulse, when both are above the threshold for switching, is studied as a function of t12, the time between them. The aims are to identify the physical mechanisms involved and to determine the minimum time needed for re-switching. The time trajectory of the switching process on a plot of sublattice angular momentum, S4a vs S4c, is in three stages; When t < 0.1 ps, the sublattice moments are rapidly disordered, but not destroyed, while conserving net angular momentum via optical spin-wave excitations. This leads to transient parallel alignment of the residual Mn spins in the first quadrant. The net angular momentum associated with the majority sublattice then flips in about 2 ps, and a fully-reversed ferrimagnetic state is then established via the spin-lattice interaction, which allows re-switching provided t12 > 10 ps., Comment: 13 pages - 4 figures

The ruthenium content of half-metallic Mn$_2$Ru$_x$Ga thin films, with a biaxially-strained inverse Heusler structure, controls the ferrimagnetism that determines their magnetic and electronic properties. An extensive study of Mn$_y$Ru$_x$Ga films on MgO (100) substrates with $1.8 \leq y \leq 2.6$ and $x = 0.5$, 0.7 or 0.9, including crystallographic, magnetic order, magneto-transport and spin polarisation is undertaken to map specific composition-dependent properties in this versatile ternary system. A comparison of experimental densities obtained from X-ray reflectivity with calculated densities indicates full site occupancy for all compositions, which implies chemical disorder. All moments lie on the Slater-Pauling plot with slope 1 and all except $x = 0.5$, $y = 2.2$ exhibit magnetic compensation at \tcmp~below 500~K. The coercivity near \tcmp~exceeds 10~T. Increasing the Mn or Ru content raises \tcmp, but increasing Ru also decreases the spin polarisation determined by point contact Andreev reflection. Molecular field theory is used to model the temperature dependence of the net ferrimagnetic moment and three principal exchange coefficients are deduced. Marked differences in the shape of anomalous Hall and net magnetisation hysteresis loops are explained by substantial canting of the small net moment by up to \SI{40}{\degree} relative to the $c$-axis in zero field, which is a result of slight non-collinearity of the Mn$^{4c}$ sublattice moments due to competing intra-sublattice exchange interactions arising from antisite disorder and excess Mn in the unit cell. Consequences are reduced spin polarisation and an enhanced intrinsic contribution to the anomalous Hall effect. The systematic investigation of the physical properties as a function of $x$ and $y$ will guide the selection of compositions to meet the requirements for magnonic and spintronic MRG-based devices.

We investigate magnetization dynamics in asymmetric interlayer exchange coupled Py/Ru/Py trilayers using both vector network analyzer-based and electrically detected ferromagnetic resonance techniques. Two different ferromagnetic resonance modes, in-phase and out-of-phase, are observed across all three regimes of the static magnetization configurations, through antiparallel alignment at low fields, the spin-flop transition at intermediate fields, and parallel alignment at high fields. The nonmonotonic behavior of the modes as a function of the external field is explained in detail by analyzing the interlayer exchange and Zeeman energies and is found to be solely governed by the interplay of their dynamical components. In addition, the linewidths of both modes were determined across the three regimes and the different behaviors of the linewidths versus external magnetic field are attributed to mutual spin pumping induced in the samples. Interestingly, the difference between the linewidths of the out-of-phase and in-phase modes decreases at the spin-flop transition and is reversed between the antiparallel and parallel aligned magnetization states.

We study the demagnetization dynamics of the fully compensated half-metallic ferrimagnet Mn$_2$Ru$_x$Ga. While the two antiferromagnetically coupled sublattices are both composed of manganese, they exhibit different temperature dependencies due to their differing local environments. The sublattice magnetization dynamics triggered by femtosecond laser pulses are studied to reveal the roles played by the spin and intersublattice exchange. We find a two-step demagnetization process, similar to the well-established case of Gd(FeCo)$_3$, where the two Mn-sublattices have different demagnetization rates. The behaviour is analysed using a four-temperature model, assigning different temperatures to the two manganese spin baths. Even in this strongly exchange-coupled system, the two spin reservoirs have considerably different behaviour. The half-metallic nature and strong exchange coupling of Mn$_2$Ru$_x$Ga lead to spin angular momentum conservation at much shorter time scales than found for Gd(FeCo)$_3$ which suggests that low-power, sub-picosecond switching of the net moment of Mn$_2$Ru$_x$Ga is possible., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter (2021)

Here we study both static and time-resolved dynamic magnetic properties of the compensated ferrimagnet from room temperature down to 10K, thus crossing the magnetic compensation temperature $T_{M}$. The behaviour is analysed with a model of a simple collinear ferrimagnet with uniaxial anisotropy and site-specific gyromagnetic ratios. We find a maximum zero-applied-field resonance frequency of $\sim$160GHz and a low intrinsic Gilbert damping $\alpha$$\sim$0.02, making it a very attractive candidate for various spintronic applications., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted paper in PRB (https://journals.aps.org/prb/accepted/df07aOb2T7f1e845c21429304f825e825c3a5f190)

Energy-efficient control of magnetization without the help of a magnetic field is a key goal of spintronics. Purely heat-induced single-pulse all-optical toggle switching has been demonstrated, but so far only in Gd based amorphous ferrimagnet films. In this work, we demonstrate toggle switching in the half-metallic compensated ferrimagnetic Heusler alloys Mn2RuxGa, which have two crystallographically-inequivalent Mn sublattices. Moreover, we observe the switching at room temperature in samples that are immune to external magnetic fields in excess of 1 T, provided they exhibit compensation above room temperature. Observations of the effect in compensated ferrimagnets without Gd challenges our understanding of all-optical switching. The dynamic behavior indicates that Mn2RuxGa switches in 2 ps or less. Our findings widen the basis for fast optical switching of magnetization and break new ground for engineered materials that can be used for nonvolatile ultrafast switches using ultrashort pulses of light., Comment: 18 pages of article, 4 figures, Supplementary Information

The effect of vacuum annealing thin films of the compensated ferrimagnetic half-metal Mn2RuxGa at temperatures from 250 to 400 degree Celsius is investigated. The 39.3 nm films deposited on (100) MgO substrates exhibit perpendicular magnetic anisotropy due to a small 1% tetragonal elongation induced by substrate strain. The main change on annealing is a modification in the compensation temperature, which first increases from 50 K for the as-deposited film to 185 K after annealing at 250 degree Celsius, and then falls to 140 K after annealing at 400 degree Celsius. There are minor changes in the atomic order, coercivity, resistivity and anomalous Hall effect (AHE), but the net magnetization measured by SQUID magnetometry with the field applied in-plane or perpendicular-to-the-plane changes more significantly. It saturates at 20 to 30 kA/m at room temperature, and a small soft component is seen in the perpendicular SQUID loops which is absent in the square AHE hysteresis loops. This is explained by the half-metallic nature of the compound; the AHE probes only the 4c Mn sublattice that provides the spin-polarized electrons at the Fermi level, whereas the SQUID measures the sum of the oppositely-aligned 4c and 4a sublattice magnetisations.

The magnetic dead layers in films a few nanometers thick are investigated for La$_{0.7}$Sr$_{0.3}$MnO$_3$ on (001)-oriented SrTiO$_3$ (STO), LaAlO$_3$ (LAO) and (LaAlO$_3$)$_{0.3}$(Sr$_2$TaAlO$_6$)$_{0.7}$ (LSAT) substrates. An anomalous moment found to persist above the Curie temperature of the La$_{0.7}$Sr$_{0.3}$MnO$_3$ films is not attributed to the films, but to oxygen vacancies at or near the surface of the substrate. The contribution to the moment from the substrate is as high as 20 $\mu$B/nm$^2$ in the case of STO or LSAT. The effect is increased by adding an STO cap layer. Taking this d-zero magnetism into account, extrapolated magnetic dead layer thicknesses of 0.8 nm, 1.5 nm and 3.0 nm are found for the manganite films grown on LSAT, STO and LAO substrates, respectively. An STO cap layer eliminates the LSMO dead layer.

The magnetization of thin films of cobalt ferrite frequently falls far below the bulk value of 455 kAm-1, which corresponds to an inverse cation distribution in the spinel structure with a significant orbital moment of about 0.6 muB that is associated with the octahedrally-coordinated Co2+ ions. The orbital moment is responsible for the magnetostriction and magnetocrystalline anisotropy, and its sensitivity to imposed strain. We have systematically investigated the structure and magnetism of films produced by pulsed-laser deposition on different substrates (TiO2, MgO, MgAl2O4, SrTiO3, LSAT, LaAlO3) and as a function of temperature (500-700 C) and oxygen pressure (10-4 - 10 Pa). Magnetization at room-temperature ranges from 60 to 440 kAm-1, and uniaxial substrate-induced anisotropy ranges from +220 kJm-3 for films on deposited on MgO (100) to -2100 kJm-3 for films deposited on MgAl2O4 (100), where the room-temperature anisotropy field reaches 14 T. No rearrangement of high-spin Fe3+ and Co2+ cations on tetrahedral and octahedral sites can reduce the magnetization below the bulk value, but a switch from Fe3+ and Co2+ to Fe2+ and low-spin Co3+ on octahedral sites will reduce the low-temperature magnetization to 120 kAm-1, and a consequent reduction of Curie temperature can bring the room-temperature value to near zero. Possible reasons for the appearance of low-spin cobalt in the thin films are discussed. Keywords; Cobalt ferrite, thin films, pulsed-laser deposition, low-spin Co3+, strain engineering of magnetization.