Half-metallic antiferromagnets in thiospinels

Abstract

We have theoretically designed the half-metallic (HM) antiferromagnets (AFM's) in thiospinel systems, Mn(CrV)S-4 and Fe0.5Cu0.5(V0.5Ti1.5)S-4, based on the electronic structure studies in the local spin-density approximation. We have also explored electronic and magnetic proper-ties of parent spinel compounds of the above systems; CuV2S4 and CuTi2S4 are found to be HM ferromagnets in their cubic spinel structures, while MnCr2S4 is a ferrimagnetic insulator. We have discussed the feasibility of material synthesis of HM-AFM thiospinel systems.