Magnetic field induced changes of the magnetic phase transition in metastable zinc blende MnS layers grown by MBE

Abstract

We studied the magnetic and optical properties of antiferromagnetic zinc blende MnS layers with thicknesses of 1.8 nm and 8.3 nm, which were grown between ZnSe cladding layers by molecular beam epitaxy on a (100)‐GaAs substrate. The paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic phase transition has been studied by optical and SQUID‐measurements. The yellow emission band of the internal manganese 3d‐states undergoes a significant blue shift below the magnetic phase transition, which is caused by the total spin orientation in this magnetic phase. It was found that the phase transition itself can be influenced by an external magnetic field in case of the 1.8 nm sample but remains unchanged for the 8.3 nm sample. SQUID‐measurements confirm the results of the optical techniques and reveal moreover the occurrence of a field induced ferromagnetic phase transition in case of the thinner sample. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)