Stoner theory of magnetic structure of alternate cubic phases of transition metals

Abstract

Epitaxial growth of bcc Co on a (110) GaAs substrate has demonstrated the feasibility of producing thin films of transition metals with structures not usually stable at room temperature and pressure. Thus an entirely new group of magnetic materials may be possible with interesting and perhaps significant magnetic properties. In this paper the simple Stoner theory of ferromagnetism is employed, with exchange-correlation parameters obtained from Janak's work and density of states at the Fermi level determined from self-consistent, paramagnetic energy-band calculations. The theory is applied to each of the 3d and 4d transition metals in both fcc and bcc phases. Ferromagnetism is obtained for bcc Fe, Co, and Mn and fcc Co and Ni, and strongly enhanced paramagnetism for bcc Sc, Ni, and Y and fcc Sc, Fe, and Pd. Comparisons are made with predictions of total energy and enhanced magnetic susceptibility calculations.