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arXiv · 0806.1979

Magnetism in small bimetallic Mn-Co clusters

Abstract

Effects of alloying on the electronic and magnetic properties of Mn$_{x}$Co$_{y}$ ($x+y$=$n$=2-5; $x$=0-$n$) and Mn$_2$Co$_{11}$ nanoalloy clusters are investigated using the density functional theory (DFT). Unlike the bulk alloy, the Co-rich clusters are found to be ferromagnetic and the magnetic moment increases with Mn-concentration, and is larger than the moment of pure Co$_n$ clusters of same size. For a particular sized cluster the magnetic moment increases by 2 $μ_B$/Mn-substitution, which is found to be independent of the size and composition. All these results are in good agreement with recent Stern-Gerlach (SG) experiments [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 75}, 014401 (2007) and Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 98}, 113401 (2007)]. Likewise in bulk Mn$_x$Co$_{1-x}$ alloy, the local Co-moment decreases with increasing Mn-concentration.

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Shreemoyee Ganguly, Mukul Kabir, Soumendu Datta, Biplab Sanyal, Abhijit Mookerjee. 2008-06-11. Magnetism in small bimetallic Mn-Co clusters. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.78.014402

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