Magnetostructural transformations in Ni 51 Mn 36 Sn 13 Heusler alloy thin films

Abstract

In this paper we report structural, magnetic and transport properties of strongly textured Ni 51 Mn 36 Sn 13 thin films. The off-stoichiometric Heusler alloy films with 200 nm thickness were sputter-deposited on a MgO(100) substrate at 500 K and after annealed at 1000 K in UHV conditions. The textured growth was confirmed by x-ray diffraction in Bragg-Brentano geometry. The temperature dependence of the magnetic properties was measured by VSM and FMR methods. The electron transport measurements were carried out in function of temperature in 0 Oe and 50 kOe fields. All measurements corroborate the existence of the martensitic transformation in the film. Furthermore, transport measurements reveal an influence of the magnetic field on the transition temperature. © 2011 Versita Warsaw and Springer-Verlag Wien.