Half-metallic electronic structure of CrO2 in resonant scattering -: art. no. 155105

We report on the results of x-ray fluorescence measurements of CrO2 thin film, which show half-metallic electronic structure. The experimental finding that the elastically scattered radiation observed in Cr L-2,L-3 x-ray emission spectra is more prominent in CrO2 than in metallic Cr is considered evidence for the half-metallic character of CrO2. The presence of an intense elastic peak in resonantly excited CrO2 spectra is due to the long lifetime of the excited states and suppression of the relaxation channel because of the unusual almost currentless character of minority spin states.