Abstract
We examine the ballistic conduction through Au-NiMnSb-Au heterostructures consisting of up to four units of the half-metallic NiMnSb in the scattering region, using density functional theory (DFT) methods. For a single NiMnSb unit the transmission function displays a spin polarization of around 50% in a window of 1eV centered around the Fermi level. By increasing the number of layers, an almost complete spin polarization of the transmission is obtained in this energy range. Supplementing the DFT calculations with local electronic interactions, of Hubbard-type on the Mn sites, leads to a hybridization between the interface and many-body states. The significant reduction of the spin polarization seen in the density of states is not apparent in the spin polarization of the conduction electron transmission, which suggests that the hybridized interface and many-body induced states are localized.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Physical Review B |
| Volume | 96 |
| Issue number | 20 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 20 2017 |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Ivan Rungger for stimulating discussions. Part of the calculations were performed in the data center of NIRDIMT. Financial support offered by the Augsburg Center for Innovative Technologies, and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (through TRR 80) is gratefully acknowledged. C.M. thanks UEFISCDI for financial support through project PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2016-0217. The research reported in this publication was supported by funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).