Magnetic characteristics of solid solutions Ni1–xMxMnSb (M = Ti, V, Cr)

The results of an experiment on the study of the crystal and magnetic structures of substitutional solid solutions of the Ni_0.90M_0.10MnSb (M = Ti, V, Cr) systems using thermal neutron diffraction in the temperature range ~ 3–300 K are presented. It is found that all the studied compositions have ferromagnetic ordering along the c axis. In the spectra of Ni_0.90V_0.10MnSb and Ni_0.90Cr_0.10MnSb solid solutions, a reflection appears in the region 2Θ = 28.6°, which indicates the formation of antiferromagnetic ordering. It has been found that this reflection disappears at a temperature T = 75 K in Ni_0.90V_0.10MnSb, while it is observed in the spectrum of Ni_0.90Cr_0.10MnSb over the entire temperature range under study. Within the framework of density functional theory (DFT), an ab initio calculation of the crystal structure and magnetic moments for Ni_1–xM_xMnSb (M = Ti, V, Cr; x = 0; 0.125; 0.250) was carried out. It has been established that titanium, vanadium, and chromium ions participate in electron transfer only with Mn and Sb ions. The DFT results predict the existence of magnetic moments for Ti, V, and Cr ions. It was found that the spins of Ti, V, and Cr ions are antiferromagnetically coupled with the spins of Mn and Ni ions. The results obtained are of interest for the development of new concepts and models of structural design, which makes it possible to synthesize fundamentally new functional materials with already specified physical properties.

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