Antiferromagnetic semiconductors are new alternative materials for spintronic applications and spin valves. In this work, we report a detailed investigation of two antiferromagnetic semiconductors AMnAs (A = Li, LaO), which are isostructural to the well-known LiFeAs and LaOFeAs superconductors. Here we present a comparison between the structural, magnetic, and electronic properties of LiMnAs, LaOMnAs and related materials. Interestingly, both LiMnAs and LaOMnAs show a variation in resistivity with more than five orders of magnitude, making them particularly suitable for use in future electronic devices. From neutron and X-ray diffraction measurements on LiMnAs we have observed a magnetic phase transition corresponding to the Neel temperature of 373.8 K, and a structural transition from the tetragonal to the cubic phase at 768 K. These experimental results are supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1307.6404,
title = {Large resistivity change and phase transition in LiMnAs},
author = {A. Beleanu and J. Kiss and G. Kreiner and C. Köhler and L. Müchler and W. Schnelle and U. Burkhardt and S. Chadov and S. Medvediev and D. Ebke and G. Cordier and B. Albert and A. Hoser and F. Bernardi and T. I. Larkin and D. Pröpper and A. V. Boris and B. Keimer and C. Felser},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1307.6404},
year = {2013}
}