First principles study on spin and orbital magnetism in CuFeSb and CuCoSb alloys with C1b structure

In this work the effect of spin–orbit coupling and orbital polarization (OP) corrections on the spin and orbital magnetism of two half-Heusler alloys (CuFeSb and CuCoSb) is investigated by means of local spin density calculations. It is demonstrated that OP corrections predict large orbital moments for Fe and Co individual atoms in the considered compounds. It is found that the Heusler alloys with C1b structure are potential candidates to show large orbital magnetism.