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A wide variety of properties such as half-metallicity is found among Heusler compounds. In order to separate intrinsic and extrinsic properties, high quality single crystals are required. Here, we report on differently grown crystals of the half-metallic ferromagnet Co2FeSi. All crystals show excellent ordering, resulting in outstanding electrical behavior with low residual resistivity and high residual-resistivity-ratio. All Co2FeSi crystals show a plateau in the resistivity below 50 K, which might point to half-metallic ferromagnetism. The cross-over from this unusual to more conventional transport (T2 dependence) around 50 K indicates the onset of spin flip scattering and thus is indispensable for understanding the strong temperature dependence of Co2FeSi tunneling magnetoresistance-devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the magnetotransport properties of Co2Cr0.6Fe0.4Al mixed with insulating Al2O3. The powder compacts show a maximum magnetoresistance of 88% at a saturation moment of 0.125 T at 295 K. Different explanations for the reversible mechanism will be discussed, such as tunneling between contiguous ferromagnetic grains, particle movement, and magnetostriction. The effect in Co2Cr0.6Fe0.4Al/Al2O3 powder compacts is the largest room temperature magnetoresistance that has been measured until now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5 films with a surface roughness of 0.12 nm have been grown epitaxially on lattice-matched MgAl2O4 (001) substrates by off-axis sputtering. X-ray diffraction shows pronounced Laue oscillations, rocking curves as narrow as 0.0043°, and clear Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5 (111) peaks indicating L21 ordering. Magnetic characterizations show a clear magnetocrystalline anisotropy comprising cubic and epitaxy-induced uniaxial terms. Nuclear magnetic resonance measurements reveal L21 order of 81% in the Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5 films. Magnetotransport measurements show a distinct separation of anisotropic magnetoresistance and ordinary magnetoresistance. These results demonstrate the state-of-the-art crystalline quality and magnetic uniformity of the Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5 films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]