Half Metallic Magnets

In the early 1980s, during a computational study of magnetic compounds, the University of Nijmegen's Rob de Groot and collaborators discovered a new type of magnetic material.1 Dubbed "half metallic" by de Groot, the new materials are unusual in that only one of the two spin directions is metallic. That is, the electrons responsible for the metallic behavior share the same spin; the electrons with the opposite spin are insulating. Now, almost two decades later, …

…itute of Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which is supported by a grant from NSF. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography** References 1. R. A. de Groot et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 50, 2024 (1983). 2. V. Yu. Irkhin, M. I. Katsnel'son, Physics-Uspekhi 37, 659 (1994). 3. H. Ohno, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 200, 110 (1999). D. D. Awschalom, N. Samarth, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 200, 130 (1999). 4. W. Black, B. Das, J. Appl. Phys. 87, 6674 (2000). 5. R. E. Rudd, W. E. Pickett, Phys. Rev. B 57, 557 (1998). W. E. Pickett, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 3185 (1996).