Diluted magnetic semiconductor superlattices and heterostructures

Diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS) are mixed semiconducting crystals whose lattice is made up in part of substitutional magnetic ions. Cd_1−xMn_xTe and Hg_1−xMn_xTe are examples of such materials. Their structural and band parameters can be “tuned” by composition over a wide range. They can thus be exploited in situations completely similar to those involving Ga_1−xAl_xAs. Using molecular beam epitaxy, we have grown Cd_1−xMn_xTe superlattices with alternating Mn content, having up to 150 layers, with layer thickness ranging from 50 to 100 Å. The superlattice structure is clearly revealed by transmission electron microscopy and by zone-folding of the phonon spectrum observed in Raman scattering. Photoluminescence observed on Cd_1−xMn_xTe superlattices is several orders of magnitude greater than that from a Cd_1−xMn_xTe film with uniform Mn content, or from bulk Cd_1−xMn_xTe specimens. The presence of localized magnetic moments in DMS results in a strong exchange interaction between these moments and band electrons. This in turn leads to gigantic Zeeman splittings of impurity states, exciton levels, Landau levels, and the bands themselves. Zeeman splittings as large as 20 meV (which in non-magnetic semiconductors would require unrealistic megagauss fields) are easily achieved in DMS in fields of several kilogauss. Since the magnitude of this exchange-induced splitting in DMS can be comparable to the binding energies and to the minigaps encountered in multiple quantum wells, DMS superlattices hold promise of a host of novel effects of both fundamental and applied interest.