Crystal and magnetic structure temperature evolution in Ni–Mn–Ga magnetic shape memory martensite

The current work presents the original results concerning the temperature evolution of the magnetic and crystal structure of Ni–Mn–Ga magnetic shape memory alloys within the entire temperature interval of the martensite phase. The atomic positions and the correct space group of the 5M martensite unit cell has been derived, which is crucial for the electronic structure calculations. Neutron diffraction studies of the Ni–Mn–Ga alloy, possessing a large magnetic shape memory effect (>5% shear strain), revealed that there are several magnetic transitions in the martensite phase due to the smooth strongly anisotropic temperature dependence of the martensite lattice parameters.