Neutron diffraction andstudies on the fully compensated ferrimagnetic characteristics of MnVCoGa Heusler alloys.

Neutron diffraction andstudies were carried out on MnVCoGa (= 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1) Heusler alloys which exhibits highfully compensated ferrimagnetic characteristics for= 0.5. A combined analysis of neutron diffraction andcalculations revealed the crystal structure and magnetic configuration which could not be determined from the x-ray diffraction and magnetic measurements. As reported earlier, Rietveld refinement of neutron diffraction data confirmed2structure for MnVGa andstructure for MnCoGa. The alloys with= 0.25 and 0.5 possess2structure with Mn-Co disorder. As the Co concentration reaches 0.75, a structural transition has been observed from disordered2to disordered. Detailedstudies also confirmed this structural transition. The reason for the magnetic moment compensation in Mn(VCo)Ga was identified to be different from that of the earlier reported fully compensated ferrimagnet (MnCo)VGa. With the help of neutron diffraction andstudies, it is identified that the disordered2structure with antiparallel coupling between the ferromagnetically aligned magnetic moments of (Mn-Mn) and (V-Co) atom pairs enables the compensation in MnVCoGa.