Magneto-optical spectroscopy of diluted magnetic semiconductors GaMnAs prepared by ion implantation and further impulse laser annealing

Abstract Ga 1− x Mn x As layers prepared by ion implantation and subsequent pulsed laser annealing with the planned Mn concentrations of x = 0.01–0.08 have been studied using the magneto-optical transversal Kerr effect (TKE) and spectral ellipsometry. The spectral dependences of the diagonal and nondiagonal components of the permittivity tensor (PT), as well as the spectrum of magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) have been calculated for the layers. The obtained spectra of the diagonal PT components show that the layers under study maintain the zinc-blende crystal structure of the parent GaAs semiconductor. All studied samples reveal a strong TKE response at low temperatures with a dependence of an effective Curie temperature (at which TKE appears) on the Mn concentration. A number of extrema in the low-temperature TKE and MCD spectra are close to the energies of transitions in the Γ and L critical points of the parent semiconductor band structure that confirms the intrinsic ferromagnetism of the Ga 1− x Mn x As layers. The MCD spectra shape and its change with Mn concentration increasing are discussed on a base of the valence-band model of ferromagnetism in DMS.