Himanshu Pandey

The half-metallicity with high degree of spin polarization combined with high Curie temperature of the Heusler alloys, especially Co-based compounds, makes them potential candidates for application in spintronic devices. These compounds can be semiconducting or metallic and even superconducting. The realization of any real life device application of Heusler alloys needs full understanding of the material properties in reduced dimensions besides the bulk properties. In thin film form, it is of paramount interest to study the nature of the interfaces with the substrate. The half-metallic character of Heusler alloys is prone to degrade due to the presence of structural and/or site disorder in thin films.