Effect of substitutional defects on Kambersky damping in L1₀ magnetic materials

Kambersky damping, representing the loss of magnetic energy from the electrons to the lattice through the spin orbit interaction, is calculated for L1₀ FePt, FePd, CoPt, and CoPd alloys versus chemical degree of order. When more substitutional defects exist in the alloys, damping is predicted to increase due to the increase of the spin-flip channels allowed by the broken symmetry. It is demonstrated that this corresponds to an enhanced density of states (DOS) at the Fermi level, owing to the rounding of the DOS with loss of long-range order. Both the damping and the DOS of the Co-based alloy are found to be less affected by the disorder. Pd-based alloys are predicted to have lower damping than Pt-based alloys, making them more suitable for high density spintronic applications.