title: Mn-stabilized zirconia: from imitation diamonds to a new potential high-Tc ferromagnetic spintronics material.
abstract: From the basis of ab initio electronic structure calculations which include the effects of thermally excited magnetic fluctuations, we predict Mn-stabilized cubic zirconia to be ferromagnetic above 500 K. We find this material, which is well known both as an imitation diamond and as a catalyst, to be half-metallic with the majority and minority spin Mn impurity states lying in zirconia's wide gap. The Mn concentration can exceed 40%. The high-Tc ferromagnetism is robust to oxygen vacancy defects and to how the Mn impurities are distributed on the Zr fcc sublattice. We propose this ceramic as a promising future spintronics material.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Mikrostrukturphysik, Weinberg 2, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ostanin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ernst
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Sandratskii
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bruno
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Däne
authors.forename: I D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Staunton
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hergert
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mertig
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kudrnovský