Large resistivity change and phase transition in LiMnAs

Max-Planck-Institut fu¨r Festko¨rperforschung, Heisenbergstr. 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany(Dated: August 2, 2013)Antiferromagnetic semiconductors are new alternative materials for spintronic applications andspin valves. In this work, we report a detailed investigation of two antiferromagnetic semicon-ductors AMnAs (A=Li, LaO), which are isostructural to the well known LiFeAs and LaOFeAssuperconductors. Here we present a comparison between the structural, magnetic, and electronicproperties of LiMnAs, LaOMnAs and related materials. Interestingly, both LiMnAs and LaOMnAsshow a variation in resistivity with more than five orders of magnitude, making them particularlysuitable for use in future electronic devices. Neutron and X-ray diffraction measurements on LiMnAsshow a magnetic phase transition corresponding to the Ne´el temperature of 373.8 K, and a structuraltransition from the tetragonal to the cubic phase at 768 K. These experimental results are supportedby density functional theory (DFT) calculations.