First-principles characterization of ferromagnetic Mn[sub 5]Ge[sub 3] for spintronic applications

In the active search for potentially promising candidates for spintronic applications, we focus on the inter- metallic ferromagnetic Mn5Ge3 compound and perform accurate first-principles full-potential linearized aug- mented plane wave calculations within density functional theory. Through a careful investigation of the bulk electronic and magnetic structure, our results for the total magnetization, atomic magnetic moments, metallic conducting character, and hyperfine fields are found to be in good agreement with experiments, and are elucidated in terms of a hybridization mechanism and exchange interaction. In order to assess the potential of this compound for spin-injection purposes, we calculate Fermi velocities and degree of spin polarization; our results predict a rather high spin-injection efficiency in the diffusive regime along the hexagonal c axis. Magneto-optical properties, such as L2,3 x-ray magnetic circular dichroism, are also reported and await com- parison with experimental data.