Ab initio estimates of the Curie temperature for magnetic compounds

The local spin-density functional approximation is increasingly being used for materials applications such as predicting structural and magnetic properties. The recently aquired ability to model low-lying magnetic excitations like magnons is used for deriving useful formulae to estimate the Curie (Neel) temperatures of magnetic compounds. Underlying this is Moriya's unified approach, appropriately formulated for density functional use. The theory is applied to the classical compounds FeNi, CoNi, FeNi3, CoNi3, and RhMn3 to establish a level of confidence, and to the Heusler compounds NiMnSb, Mn2VAl, Co2FeSi, Mn3Al, and Mn3Ga, which are presently studied with possible applications in mind for advanced spin electronic devices.