%0 Journal Article %K Carbon dioxide %K Manganese %K X-ray Diffraction %K Spin polarization %K Cobalt %K Spin dynamics %K Germanium %K Heusler %K Anomalous X-ray diffraction %K Antisite disorder %K Atomic disorder %K Band theory %K Conduction electrons %K Half metallic ferromagnets %K Half metals %K Heusler alloys %K High precision %K Spin state %K Structural defect %K Sub-lattices %A B Ravel %A J.O Cross %A M.P Raphael %A V.G Harris %A Ramamoorthy Ramesh %A L.V Saraf %B Applied Physics Letters %D 2002 %G eng %P 2812-2814 %R 10.1063/1.1513216 %T Atomic disorder in Heusler Co 2MnGe measured by anomalous x-ray diffraction %V 81 %X Heusler alloys Co 2MnX, where X is Ge or Si, are predicted by the band theory to be a half-metallic ferromagnets, i.e., metals with all conduction electrons of the same spin state. To date, Heusler alloys have been measured with spin polarizations of 50%-60%, higher than Fe (∼40%), but not a true half metal. Structural defects involving site swapping between the Co and Mn sublattices have been proposed as a mechanism to diminish spin polarization. In this work, we present an anomalous x-ray diffraction measurement on Co 2MnGe to determine antisite disorder in thin films with a high precision. © 2002 American Institute of Physics. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.