Magnetic circular dichroism from the impurity band in III-V diluted magnetic semiconductors

Abstract

The magnetic circular dichroism of III-V diluted magnetic semiconductors, calculated within a theoretical framework suitable for highly disordered materials, is shown to be dominated by optical transitions between the bulk bands and an impurity band formed from magnetic dopant states. The real-space Green's functions incorporate spatial correlations in the disordered conduction band and valence-band electronic structure, and include extended and localized states on an equal basis. Our findings reconcile unusual trends in the experimental magnetic circular dichroism in III-V diluted magnetic semiconductors with the antiferromagnetic p-d exchange interaction between a magnetic dopant spin and its host.

Department

Physics

Publication Date

10-9-2008

Journal Title

Physical Review Letters

Publisher

AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.157203

Document Type

Article

Rights

© 2008 The American Physical Society

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