Magnetic and magneto-transport studies of substrate effect on the martensitic transformation in a NiMnIn shape memory alloy

Authors

Andrei Sokolov, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Eugene Kirianov, Lincoln South West High SchoolFollow
Albina Zlenko, Lincoln South West High School
Abdiel Quetz, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow
Anil Aryal, Southern Illinois University, CarbondaleFollow
Sudip Pandey, Southern Illinois University, CarbondaleFollow
Igor Dubenko, Southern Illinois University, CarbondaleFollow
Shane Stadler, Louisiana State UniversityFollow
Naushad Ali, Southern Illinois University, CarbondaleFollow
Nabil M. Al-Aqtash, University of Nebraska at OmahaFollow
Renat F. Sabirianov, University of Nebraska at OmahaFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2016

Citation

AIP ADVANCES 6, 056211 (2016)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4943537

Comments

Copyright 2016 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Abstract

The effect of substrates on the magnetic and transport properties of Ni₂Mn_1.5In_0.5 ultra-thin films were studied theoretically and experimentally. High quality 8-nm films were grown by laser-assisted molecular beam epitaxy deposition. Magnetotransport measurements revealed that the films undergo electronic structure transformation similar to those of bulk materials at the martensitic transformation. The temperature of the transformation depends strongly on lattice parameters of the substrate. To explain this behavior, we performed DFT calculations on the system and found that different substrates change the relative stability of the ferromagnetic (FM) austenite and ferrimagnetic (FiM) martensite states. We conclude that the energy difference between the FM austenite and FiM martensite states in Ni₂Mn_1.5In_0.5 films grown on MgO (001) substrates is ΔE = 0.20 eV per NiMnIn f.u, somewhat lower compared to ΔE = 0.24 eV in the bulk material with the same lattice parameters. When the lattice parameters of Ni₂Mn_1.5In_0.5 film have values close to those of the MgO substrate, the energy difference becomes ΔE = 0.08 eV per NiMnIn f.u. These results suggest the possibility to control the martensitic transition in thin films through substrate engineering.