Abstrakt
We report on an experimental and theoretical study of CuMn-V compounds. In agreement with previous works we find low-temperature antiferromagnetism with Neel temperature of 50 K in the cubic half-Heusler CuMnSb.
We demonstrate that the orthorhombic CuMnAs is a room-temperature antiferromagnet. Our results are based on X-ray diffraction, magnetization, transport, and differential thermal analysis measurements, and on density-functional theory calculations of the magnetic structure of CuMn-V compounds.
In the discussion part of the paper we make a prediction, based on our density-functional theory calculations, that the electronic structure of CuMn-V compounds makes a transition from a semimetal to a semiconductor upon introducing the lighter group-V elements.