arXiv:cond-mat/0510203v1 [cond-mat.mtrl-sci] 8 Oct 2005 Design of magnetic materials: The electronic structure of the ordered, doped Heusler compound Co 2 Cr 1-x Fe x Al Gerhard H. Fecher 1 , Hem Chandra Kandpal 1 , Sabine Wurmehl 1 , Jonder Morais 2 , Hong-Ji Lin 3 , Hans-Joachim Elmers 4 , Gerd Sch¨ onhense 4 , and Claudia Felser 1 1 Institut f¨ ur Anorganische Chemie und Analytische Chemie, Johannes Gutenberg - Universit¨ at, D-55099 Mainz, Germany 2 Instituto de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Allegre, 91501-970 RS, Brazil 3 National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center - NSRRC, Hsinchu, 30076, Taiwan 4 Institut f¨ ur Physik, Johannes Gutenberg - Universit¨ at, D-55099 Mainz, Germany E-mail: felser@uni-mainz.de Abstract. Doped Heusler compounds Co 2 Cr 1-x FexAl with varying Cr to Fe ratio x were investigated experimentally and theoretically. The electronic structure of the ordered, doped Heusler compound Co 2 Cr 1-x FexAl (x = n/4,n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4) was calculated using different types of band structure calculations. The ordered compounds turned out to be ferromagnetic with small Al magnetic moment being aligned anti-parallel to the 3d transition metal moments. All compounds show a gap around the Fermi-energy in the minority bands. The pure compounds exhibit an indirect minority gap, whereas the ordered, doped compounds exhibit a direct gap. Magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) in X-ray absorption spectra was measured at the L 2,3 edges of Co, Fe, and Cr of the pure compounds and the x =0.4 alloy in order to determine element specific magnetic moments. Calculations and measurements show an increase of the magnetic moments with increasing iron content. The experimentally observed reduction of the magnetic moment of Cr can be explained by Co-Cr site-disorder. The presence of the gap in the minority bands of Co 2 CrAl can be attributed to the occurrence of pure Co 2 and mixed CrAl (001)-planes in the L2 1 structure. It is retained in structures with different order of the CrAl planes but vanishes in the X-structure with alternating CoCr and CoAl planes. PACS numbers: 75.50.Cc, 71.20.Lp, 78.70.Dm, 75.30.Cr Submitted to: J. Phys.: Condens. Matter