Ferromagnetic alloys undergoing thermoelastic martensitic transformations have recently become very attractive owing to the possibility of inducing giant deformations by rotating martensitic domains with an externally applied magnetic field. It is expected that the ferromagnetic alloys with the Heusler structure may exhibit a strong magnetoelastic coupling resulting in potentially interesting magneto-mechanical properties. On other hand, half Heusler alloys were recently examined in the light of their half–metallicity and spintronic applications. The magnetic properties of alloys depend strongly on both the conduction electron concentration and chemical order. For spintronic applications, minimizing interfacial reactions and controlling the growth of Heusler alloys thin films are very important task. In this connection the investigation of structural and magnetic properties of systems incorporating Heusler alloys are desirable.
In present paper the electronic structure of several Mn-, Co- and Fe-based Heusler and half Heusler alloys is studied by means of the full-potential linearised augmented-plane-wave method. The structural trends and changes of magnetic properties of alloys with varying of one or two components are analyzed. We calculated electronic structure of Ni₂MnGa(001) thin film and it on a GaAs substrate using NiGa interlayer. The change of magnetic properties at surface and interface is analyzed. It is shown that the magnetic moment at surface Mn atoms slightly increases (about 0.3μ_B) whereas Ni atom has ~0.3-0.4μ_B in the surface and subsurface layers. GaAs substrate does not influence significantly the magnetic properties of Ni₂MnGa thin film.
This work was supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant N 05—02-16074).

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