We report on the study of the structural, magnetic and transport properties of highly textured MnBi films with the Curie temperature of 628K. In addition to detailed measurements of resistivity and magnetization, we measure transport spin polarization of MnBi by Andreev reflection spectroscopy and perform fully relativistic band structure calculations of MnBi. A spin polarization from 51pm1 to 63pm1% is observed, consistent with the calculations and with an observation of a large magnetoresistance in MnBi contacts. The band structure calculations indicate that, in spite of almost identical densities of states at the Fermi energy, the large disparity in the Fermi velocities leads to high transport spin polarization of MnBi. The correlation between the values of magnetization and spin polarization is discussed.
We present evidence for spin polarized charge carriers in In$_2$O$_3$ films. Both In$_2$O$_3$ and Cr doped In$_2$O$_3$ films exhibit room temperature ferromagnetism after vacuum annealing, with a saturation moment of approximately 0.5 emu/cm$^3$. We used Point Contact Andreev Reflection measurements to directly determine the spin polarization, which was found to be approximately 50$pm$5% for both compositions. These results are consistent with suggestions that the ferromagnetism observed in certain oxide semiconductors may be carrier mediated.
We report on the electric field control of magnetic phase transition temperatures in multiferroic Ni3V2O8 thin films. Using magnetization measurements, we find that the phase transition temperature to the canted antiferromagnetic state is suppressed by 0.2 K in an electric field of 30 MV/m, as compared to the unbiased sample. Dielectric measurements show that the transition temperature into the magnetic state associated with ferroelectric order increases by 0.2 K when the sample is biased at 25 MV/m. This electric field control of the magnetic transitions can be qualitatively understood using a mean field model incorporating a tri-linear coupling between the magnetic order parameters and spontaneous polarization.
