Search for fully compensated ferrimagnet in Co substituted Mn2VGa alloy

Crystallographic and magnetic properties of bulk (Mn1−xCox)2VGa alloys with 0≤x≤0.50 are reported in this work. All the alloys exhibit stable L21 structure. Unit cell volume of this series of alloys decreased from 207.5 Å3 to 195.1 Å3 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 (Ms) measured for the alloys with x=0, 0.25 and 0.50 are 1.84 μB/f.u., 0.85 μB/f.u. and 0.30 μB/f.u., respectively, as compared to the values of 2.00 μB/f.u., 1.00 μB/f.u. and 0 μB/f.u., predicted by the Slater-Pauling (S-P) rule. While explaining the deviations in the Ms 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.