Anomalous transport and magnetic behaviours of the quaternary Heusler compounds CoFeTiSn and CoFeVGa

We report here the electrical transport and magnetic properties of the newly synthesized quaternary Heusler compounds CoFeTiSn and CoFeVGa. Our study indicates a striking change in the electronic transport properties of CoFeTiSn as the system undergoes the paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition. While the sample shows an activated semiconducting behaviour in the paramagnetic phase, it turns abruptly to a metallic phase with the onset of ferromagnetic transition. We have compared the system with other Heusler compounds showing similar anomaly in transport, and it appears that CoFeTiSn has much similarities with the Fe-2 VAl compound having pseudogap in the paramagnetic phase. On the other hand, CoFeVGa shows a semiconducting behaviour from high temperature to 90 K. On cooling below 90 K, a broad hump like feature is observed. Both the compositions show negative Seebeck coefficient varying linearly with temperature. The value of the Seebeck coefficient of CoFeTiSn is comparable to that of many Heusler alloys identified as potential thermoelectric materials.