Disproportionate influence of site disorder on the evolution of magnetic phases in anti-Heusler alloy Al$_2$MnFe

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Autori principali: Bhowmik, Soumya, Pakhira, Santanu, Kundu, Ashis, Reddy, V. Raghavendra, Kabir, Mukul, Mazumdar, Chandan
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Bhowmik, Soumya
Pakhira, Santanu
Kundu, Ashis
Reddy, V. Raghavendra
Kabir, Mukul
Mazumdar, Chandan
author_facet Bhowmik, Soumya
Pakhira, Santanu
Kundu, Ashis
Reddy, V. Raghavendra
Kabir, Mukul
Mazumdar, Chandan
contents Anti-Heusler alloys, being a new addition to the Heusler alloys family, exhibit atomic disorders, and almost all of them are reported as a re-entrant spin-glass system. Although such spin-glass feature is generally attributed to the inherent atomic disorder, a comprehensive and extensive investigation on the individual roles of different types of disorders in magnetic interactions remains lacking for any of the reported anti-Heusler systems. As an illustrative case, we have carried out an in-depth experimental as well as theoretical investigation of structural, magnetic, and transport properties of a polycrystalline anti-Heusler alloy, Al$_2$MnFe. While the major atomic disorder is found to be among Fe and Mn atoms, which are randomly distributed among the two octahedral sites, 4$a$ and 4$b$ (B2-type disorder), a relatively small fraction ($\sim$12\%) of Mn atoms also replace Al atoms at the tetrahedral 8$c$ site. Magnetically, the system undergoes two transitions: a paramagnetic to a ferromagnetic transition at $T_{\rm C}\sim$113~K, followed by a spin-glass phase transition below $T_{\rm f}\sim$20~K. Here, the magnetic moment is primarily confined to Mn atoms. Very interestingly, our theoretical analysis reveals that the ferromagnetic spin arrangement remains rather robust in spite of the 50\% disorder of moment-carrying Mn atoms between the two octahedral sites, but a much smaller ($\sim$12\%) cross-distribution of Mn atoms between octahedral and tetrahedral sites are sufficient to impose a reentrant spin-glass state at low temperature. Our analysis brings forth the importance of understanding the role of individual types of swap-disorder on magnetic properties in the anti-Heusler family of materials.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_00768
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Disproportionate influence of site disorder on the evolution of magnetic phases in anti-Heusler alloy Al$_2$MnFe
Bhowmik, Soumya
Pakhira, Santanu
Kundu, Ashis
Reddy, V. Raghavendra
Kabir, Mukul
Mazumdar, Chandan
Materials Science
Anti-Heusler alloys, being a new addition to the Heusler alloys family, exhibit atomic disorders, and almost all of them are reported as a re-entrant spin-glass system. Although such spin-glass feature is generally attributed to the inherent atomic disorder, a comprehensive and extensive investigation on the individual roles of different types of disorders in magnetic interactions remains lacking for any of the reported anti-Heusler systems. As an illustrative case, we have carried out an in-depth experimental as well as theoretical investigation of structural, magnetic, and transport properties of a polycrystalline anti-Heusler alloy, Al$_2$MnFe. While the major atomic disorder is found to be among Fe and Mn atoms, which are randomly distributed among the two octahedral sites, 4$a$ and 4$b$ (B2-type disorder), a relatively small fraction ($\sim$12\%) of Mn atoms also replace Al atoms at the tetrahedral 8$c$ site. Magnetically, the system undergoes two transitions: a paramagnetic to a ferromagnetic transition at $T_{\rm C}\sim$113~K, followed by a spin-glass phase transition below $T_{\rm f}\sim$20~K. Here, the magnetic moment is primarily confined to Mn atoms. Very interestingly, our theoretical analysis reveals that the ferromagnetic spin arrangement remains rather robust in spite of the 50\% disorder of moment-carrying Mn atoms between the two octahedral sites, but a much smaller ($\sim$12\%) cross-distribution of Mn atoms between octahedral and tetrahedral sites are sufficient to impose a reentrant spin-glass state at low temperature. Our analysis brings forth the importance of understanding the role of individual types of swap-disorder on magnetic properties in the anti-Heusler family of materials.
title Disproportionate influence of site disorder on the evolution of magnetic phases in anti-Heusler alloy Al$_2$MnFe
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.00768