Spectroscopic evidence of band Jahn-Teller distortion upon martensitic phase transition in Heusler-type Ni-Fe(Co)-Ga ferromagnetic shape-memory alloy films

角田 一樹*; 白井 開渡*; Zhu, S.-Y.*; 谷口 雅樹*; Ye, M.*; 上田 茂典*; 竹田 幸治; 斎藤 祐児; Aseguinolaza, I. R.*; Barandiarn, J. M.*; et al.

Physical Review B, 91(13), p.134417_1 - 134417_6, 2015/04

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.134417

The temperature evolution of the electronic structure of a Ni-Fe(Co)-Ga/MgO(100), Heusler-type, ferromagnetic shape-memory alloy thin film has been followed by a bulk-sensitive hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, element-selective soft X-ray magnetic circular dichroism, and first-principles calculation. The reversible changes of the electronic states near the Fermi energy show a hysteresis associated with the martensitic phase transition (MPT), where the pseudogap opens on cooling and closes again on warming. In addition, the Ni 3d spin magnetic moment increases by approximately two times across the MPT, whereas the change of Fe 3d moment is moderate. By comparing the experimental results with the calculated spin-resolved density of states, we conclude that the band Jahn-Teller effect of Ni 3d and Fe 3d orbitals is responsible for MPT.