Semiconductors possessing both magnetic
and optoelectronic properties
are rare and promise applications in opto-spintronics. Here we report
the mixed-anion semiconductor BaFMn0.5Te with a band gap
of 1.76 eV and a work function of 5.08 eV, harboring both antiferromagnetism
(AFM) and strong red photoluminescence (PL). The synthesis of BaFMn0.5Te in quantitative yield was accomplished using the “panoramic
synthesis” technique and synchrotron radiation to obtain the
full reaction map, from which we determined that the compound forms
upon heating at 850 °C via an intermediate unknown phase. The
structure refinement required the use of a (3+1)-dimensional superspace
group Cmme(α01/2)0ss. The
material crystallizes into a ZrCuSiAs-like structure with alternating
[BaF]+ and [Mn0.5Te]− layers
and has a commensurately modulated structure with the q-vector of 1/6a* + 1/6b* + 1/2c* at room temperature arising from the unique ordering
pattern of Mn2+ cations. Long-range AFM order emerges below
90 K, with two-dimensional short-range AFM correlations above the
transition temperature. First-principles calculations indicate that
BaFMn0.5Te is an indirect band gap semiconductor with the
gap opening between Te 5p and Mn 3d orbitals, and the magnetic interactions between nearest-neighbor
Mn2+ atoms are antiferromagnetic. Steady-state PL spectra
show a broad strong emission centered at ∼700 nm, which we
believe originates from the energy manifolds of the modulated Mn2+ sublattice and its defects. Time-resolved PL measurements
reveal an increase in excited-state lifetimes with longer probe wavelengths,
from 93 ns (at 650 nm) to 345 ns (at 800 nm), and a delayed growth
(6.5 ± 0.3 ns) in the kinetics at 800 nm with a concomitant decay
(4.1 ± 0.1 ns) at 675 nm. Together, these observations suggest
that there are multiple emissive states, with higher energy states
populating lower energy states by energy transfer.