Neutron diffraction studies of diluted magnetic semiconductors (invited)

Abstract

The nature of the spin correlations in Zn1−cMncTe alloys for several values of c has been studied by neutron powder diffraction as a function of temperature T between 2 and 300 K. Results have been obtained for c=0.376, 0.565, 0.594, and 0.68. The correlations are weak at low c and high T, but intensify progressively as c increases and/or T decreases. For c as high as 0.68, the experiments do not indicate any phase transition to a fully ordered magnetic structure, but the appearance of broad, intense magnetic diffuse scattering peaks at particular positions suggests a strong tendency towards antiferromagnetic ordering of type III. The results are analyzed in terms of a theory of the magnetic scattering from magnetic ions surrounded by near-neighbor shells of correlated spins. Comparison is also made with the correlations expected from an ordered type III structure modified by various exponential functions of a correlation length κ(c). Application of a magnetic field up to 2 Tesla to the c=0.594 specimen produced no measurable effects on the neutron diffraction patterns.