Study of electronic structure and magnetic properties of epitaxial Co2FeAl Heusler Alloy Thin Films

• Electronic structure and Magnetic Properties of Epitaxial Co2FeAl Heusler Films.
• X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD).
• Fe- and Co L2,3 edges show a pronounced magnetic dichroic signal in remanence.
• Calculated Orbital, Spin and total magnetic moments of Fe and Co for 30 nm Co2FeAl thin film.
• The total magnetic moment of Fe at L2,3 edges increases with the thickness of the Co2FeAl films.

This work reports the magnetic and electronic characterization of plane magnetized buried Heusler Co2FeAl nano thin films of different thickness by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements. . The spectra on both Fe- and Co L2,3 edges show a pronounced magnetic dichroic signal in remanence, corresponding to a ferromagnetically-aligned moments on Fe and Co atoms conditioning the peculiar characteristics of the Co2FeAl Heusler compound (a half-metallic ferromagnet). The detailed knowledge of the related magnetic and electronic properties of these samples over a wide range of thickness of films are indispensable for achieving a higher tunnel magnetoresistance ratio, and thus for spintronics device applications.