Induced magnetic Cu moments and magnetic ordering in Cu2MnAl thin films on MgO(0 0 1) observed by XMCD

The disorder–order transition of a highly defective A2-ordered Cu2MnAl film on MgO(0 0 1) upon annealing at 600 K was monitored by means of x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at the Cu and Mn L2,3 edges. Additionally, x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) was employed to determine element-specific orbital and spin resolved magnetic moments of the Cu and Mn atoms. A small induced total magnetic moment of ≈0.04 ± 0.01μB per atom was detected at the Cu sites, whereas a total magnetic moment of 3.57 ± 0.52μB is carried by the Mn atoms. The experimental XAS and XMCD spectra of Cu agree reasonably with the results from ab initio calculations, magnetic moments derived by the sum rules are in accordance with the calculations.