Magnetic structure of Mn2GaC thin film by neutron diffraction

Mn2GaC shows interesting magnetic behavior which can potentially be used for spintronic applications. In order to understand its complex magnetic behavior, we need to solve the magnetic structure. The material is grown epitaxially on a single crystal MgO substrate. It orders below 507 K and shows another magnetic transition at 220 K. We determined the propagation vector to be k=(0,0, theta), with theta=~0.55 at 2K and theta1=0.55 and theta2=0.66 at around 300 K from previous D10 and Superadam experiments. In order to describe the magnetic structures we must determine the phases of all four Mn spins in the unit cell, which requires a larger set of magnetic Bragg reflections than currently measured, including both on- and off-axis peaks. The high-flux instrument WISH is well suited for this as it could access a wide range of magnetic reflections.