Galvanomagnetic effects in the Ni2MnSn Heusler alloy

The authors give a qualitative interpretation of the field and temperature dependences of the electrical resistivity, the Hall effect and transverse magnetoresistance of the ferromagnetic alloy Ni 2 MnSn. The experiments cover the ranges 4-400K and 0-47*10 5 A m -1 , with supporting measurements of the magnetisation in the range 4-490K. The results are interpreted in terms of conduction by s-p electrons that are scattered by the spin system and by a resonant s-d-s mechanism at the Mn ions. The results show the different manifestations in the galvanomagnetic effects of magnon scattering, spin-disorder scattering, spin-orbit coupling and the freezing out of spin-flip processes.