Onset of Ferromagnetism in Low-Doped Ga1-xMnxAs

We develop a quantitatively predictive theory for impurity-band ferromagnetism in the low-doping regime of Ga1-xMnxAs. We compare it with measurements of a series of samples whose compositions span the transition from paramagnetic insulating to ferromagnetic conducting behavior. The theoretical Curie temperatures depend sensitively on the local fluctuations in the Mn-hole binding energy, which originate from Mn disorder and As antisite defects. The experimentally determined hopping energy is an excellent predictor of the Curie temperature, in agreement with the theory.     

Multiband tight-binding model of local magnetism in Ga1-xMnxAs

We present the spin and orbitally resolved local density of states (LDOS) for a single Mn impurity and for two nearby Mn impurities in GaAs. The GaAs host is described by a sp(3) tight-binding Hamiltonian, and the Mn impurity is described by a local p-d hybridization and on-site potential. Local spin-polarized resonances within the valence bands significantly enhance the LDOS near the band edge. For two nearby parallel Mn moments the acceptor states hybridize and split in energy. Thus scanning tunneling spectroscopy can directly measure the Mn-Mn interaction as a function of distance.     

Metal-insulator transition in Bi-doped,amorphous Ga:Ar mixtures: Influence of spin-orbit scattering

Doping amorphous Ga_xAr_1?x mixtures with the strong spin-orbit scatterer Bi has a dramatic effect on the metal-insulator transition (MIT) occurring in this system at a critical metal atomic concentration x_c: (i) the MIT is shifted from x′_c = 0.36 ± 0.01 (corresponding to a critical metal volume fraction v′_c = 0.19 ± 0.01) of the undoped system to a lower value of x_c = 0.25 ± 0.01 (v_c = 0.14 ± 0.01) for (Ga_0.9Bi_0.1)_xAr_1?x and (ii) the critical exponent v and g of the dc conductivity and Hall coefficient, respectively, change from v′ = 0.5 ± 0.1 and g′ = 0 for the undoped samples to v = 1.3 ± 0.3 and g = 0.5 ± 0.1 for (Ga_0.9Bi_0.1)_xAr_1?x.     

GaMnAs合金中等离子体激元-LO声子耦合模的拉曼光谱研究

理论分析了两种阻尼条件下重掺杂GaAs中的等离子体激元-LO声子耦合模,证实在小阻尼条件下耦合模的拉曼谱分为两支,而在大阻尼条件下只有一个耦合模可以被观测到。推导得到了只出现一个耦合模所需的最小阻尼的解析表达式。测量了Mn组分从2.6%到9%的GaMnAs合金的拉曼光谱。利用等离子体激元-LO声子耦合模理论进行了谱形拟合,得到了所测的GaMnAs合金中的空穴浓度。     

Nature of magnetic coupling between Mn ions in As-grown Ga1-xMnxAs studied by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism

The magnetic properties of as-grown Ga1-xMnxAs have been investigated by the systematic measurements of temperature and magnetic field dependent soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). The intrinsic XMCD intensity at high temperatures obeys the Curie-Weiss law, but a residual spin magnetic moment appears already around 100 K, significantly above the Curie temperature (T_{C}), suggesting that short-range ferromagnetic correlations are developed above T_{C}. The present results also suggest that the antiferromagnetic interaction between the substitutional and interstitial Mn (Mn_{int}) ions exists and that the amount of the Mn_{int} affects T_{C}.     

Mott relation for anomalous Hall and Nernst effects in Ga1-xMnxAs ferromagnetic semiconductors

The Mott relation between the electrical and thermoelectric transport coefficients normally holds for phenomena involving scattering. However, the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in ferromagnets may arise from intrinsic spin-orbit interaction. In this work, we have simultaneously measured AHE and the anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) in Ga1-xMnxAs ferromagnetic semiconductor films, and observed an exceptionally large ANE at zero magnetic field. We further show that AHE and ANE share a common origin and demonstrate the validity of the Mott relation for the anomalous transport phenomena.     

Interplay between carrier and impurity concentrations in annealed Ga1-xMnxAs: intrinsic anomalous hall effect

Investigating the scaling behavior of annealed Ga1-xMnxAs anomalous Hall coefficients, we note a universal crossover regime where the scaling behavior changes from quadratic to linear. Furthermore, measured anomalous Hall conductivities in the quadratic regime when properly scaled by carrier concentration remain constant, spanning nearly a decade in conductivity as well as over 100 K in T_[C] and comparing favorably to theoretically predicated values for the intrinsic origins of the anomalous Hall effect. Both qualitative and quantitative agreements strongly point to the validity of new equations of motion including the Berry phase contributions as well as the tunability of the anomalous Hall effect.     

Metal-insulator transition in amorphous Si1−c Mnc obtained by ion implantation

A metal-insulator transition (MIT) induced by a change in the impurity Mn concentration in a material with topological disorder — amorphous Si_1−c Mn_c — is investigated. It is found that near the critical point the localization radius, permittivity, and conductivity vary according to a power law in accordance with the scaling theory of localization. The critical exponents are determined. It is concluded that the basic mechanisms of the MIT in disordered systems do not depend on the type of disorder and are universal. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 4, 333–337 (25 February 1997)     

Metal-insulator transition in the mercury-xenon system

A gradual conductivity transition as the atomic composition (X) of Hg/Xe samples is varied at 6 K has been observed. The temperature coefficient of the conductivity (TCC) follows the power law TCC α (X₀ ? X)^{2.4 ± 0.4} with X₀ = 0.790 ± 0.005, the conductivity at X₀ being 400 ± 50 (Ω-cm)^-1. The gradual conductivity transition is interpreted in terms of a Mott-Anderson metal-nonmetal transition smeared out by thermally activated hopping.     

Metal-insulator transition in perovskite oxides: A low-temperature perspective

A review is presented of recent experimental results of low temperature studies of composition driven metal-insulator transition in perovskite oxides of the ABO₃ class. The evolution of physical properties like conductivity, tunnelling, density of states and magnetoconductivity has been studied at low temperatures (T < 10 K) because composition is varied so that the sample goes from the metallic state to the critical region through a weakly localized region. The results show an interesting interplay of disorder and correlation effects. Special attention has been paid to the critical region which is marked by very low conductivity and dσ/dT>0. In this region the following important observations emerge. (1) It is possible to have a metallic state [σ(T = 0) = σ ₀ ≠ 0] with σ ₀/σ _Mott ? 1 and dσ/dT > 0. (2) At T < 2 K the conductivity follows a power law σ ～T^ν , where the exponent can be related to the finite frequency response of a zero temperature phase transition. (3) The Coulomb interaction plays a major role and evidence from tunnelling experiments suggests that a gap in the density of states at the Fermi level opens up continuously as the critical region is approached from the metallic side. (4) The magnetoconductivity is relatively smaller in the metallic and the weakly localized region (except the hole-doped LaMnO₃ and related systems) but becomes very large at the critical region.     

Metal-insulator transition in a two-layer electron-hole system

This paper discusses a quantum-mechanical metal-insulator transition that occurs in an anisotropic electron-hole system with the electrons and holes separated and confined to a double quantum well. The critical concentration n _c of carriers in the system above which the excitonic (insulating) phase becomes an electron-hole (metallic) phase is investigated, along with its dependence on the distance between wells D. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 1654–1656 (September 1997)     

Metal-insulator transition induced by the magnetic field in n-type GaSb

The metal-insulator (MI) transition induced by a magnetic field was evidenced for the first time in compensated n-type GaSb layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The free electron densities were in the low 10¹⁶ cm⁻³ range or even slightly lower, so that the zero-field 3D electron gas was degenerate and, at the B_MI magnetic field of the MI transition, it populates only the spin-split 0⁽⁺⁾ Landau level (extreme quantum limit). On the metallic side of the MI transition a T^1/3 dependence of the conductivity was assumed to fit the low-T data and to estimate the B_MI value, which resulted of 9.1 T in the purest sample. The MI transition manifests in a strong increase of the diagonal resistivity with the magnetic field, but not of the Hall coefficient, suggesting that the apparent electron density is practically constant, whereas the mobility varies strongly. The evidence of a maximum in the temperature dependence of the Hall coefficient has been explained through a two channels transport mechanism involving localized and extended states.     

Metal-insulator transition tuned by external gates in Hall systems with constrictions

The nature of a metal-insulator transition tuned by external gates in quantum Hall systems with point constrictions, as reported in recent experiments [S. Roddaro, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 156804 (2005)10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.156804], is examined. We attribute this phenomenon to a splitting of the integer edge into conducting and insulating stripes, the latter wide enough to allow for the stability of the edge structure. Interchannel impurity scattering and interchannel Coulomb interactions do not destabilize this picture.     

Metal-insulator transition in an aperiodic ladder network: an exact result

We prove that a tight-binding ladder network composed of atomic sites with on-site potentials distributed according to the quasiperiodic Aubry model can exhibit a metal-insulator transition at multiple values of the Fermi energy. For specific values of the first and second neighbor electron hopping, the result is obtained exactly. With a more general model, we numerically calculate the two-terminal conductance. The numerical results corroborate the analytical findings.     

Metal-insulator transition in electron-doped Ba1−x La x MnO3 compounds

Electron-doped (Ba_1−x La _x )MnO₃ compounds were prepared for x=0−0.5. Measurements of X-ray diffraction (XRD) at room temperature and temperature variation of dc electrical resistivity down to 20 K were carried out. Samples with x=0.2–0.5 exhibit metal-insulator (M-I) transition. The maximum M-I transition temperature (T _c) of 289 K was observed for 30% of La doping (x=0.3). XRD patterns of these samples (x=0.2−0.5) were analyzed using Rietveld refinement. These samples are found to be mostly in single-phase form with orthorhombic symmetry (space group Pbnm). We have found strong correlation between Mn-O-Mn bond angles and T _c of M-I transition. The resistivity data below T _c could be fitted to the expression ρ=ρ ₁+ρ ₂ T ² and this shows that double exchange interaction plays a major role even in Mn⁴⁺-rich compound. Above T _c the resistivity data were fitted to variable range hopping and small polaron models.     

Metal-insulator transition in two dimensions: experimental test of the two-parameter scaling

We report a detailed scaling analysis of resistivity rho(T,n) measured for several high-mobility 2D electron systems in the vicinity of the 2D metal-insulator transition. We analyzed the data using the two-parameter scaling approach and general scaling ideas. This enables us to determine the critical electron density, two critical indices, and temperature dependence for the separatrix in the self-consistent manner. In addition, we reconstruct the empirical scaling function describing a two-parameter surface which fits well the rho(T,n) data.