Search for fully compensated ferrimagnet in Co substituted Mn2VGa alloy

Abstract Crystallographic and magnetic properties of bulk (Mn 1− x Co x ) 2 VGa alloys with 0≤ x ≤0.50 are reported in this work. All the alloys exhibit stable L 2 1 structure. Unit cell volume of this series of alloys decreased from 207.5 A 3 to 195.1 A 3 as x was increased from 0 to 0.50. All the alloys shows ferrimagnetic behavior with Curie temperature decreasing from 763 K to 367 K with increase in x . Saturation magnetization ( M s ) measured for the alloys with x =0, 0.25 and 0.50 are 1.84 μ B /f.u., 0.85 μ B /f.u. and 0.30 μ B /f.u., respectively, as compared to the values of 2.00 μ B /f.u., 1.00 μ B /f.u. and 0 μ B /f.u., predicted by the Slater–Pauling (S–P) rule. While explaining the deviations in the M s from the values predicted by the S–P rule, a fully compensated ferrimagnet is expected in an alloy with total number of valance electrons of 24.1.