Single-crystal studies and electronic structure investigation of the room-temperature semiconductor NaMnAs

Synthesis of single-crystalline NaMnAs is reported, and we confirm its high quality by x-ray photoemission spectra. Magnetometry results are consistent with previous findings of antiferromagnetic order. The electronic structure was further studied using optical transmittance and by theoretical modeling using local-density approximation (LDA) extended to LDA + U for the purpose of determining the Heisenberg model parameters. Optical transmittance measurements confirm theoretical predictions that NaMnAs is a semiconductor. The Neel temperature was determined from temperature dependence of susceptibility, in agreement with our Monte Carlo simulations.

Automated summary

The synthesis of single-crystalline NaMnAs and its high-quality confirmation by x-ray photoemission spectra are reported. Magnetometry results confirm the antiferromagnetic order. The optical transmittance measurements and theoretical modeling using LDA+U support the prediction of NaMnAs as a semiconductor. The Neel temperature determination from susceptibility-temperature dependence agrees with Monte Carlo simulations.