Impurity band conduction in a high temperature ferromagnetic semiconductor.
The band structure of a prototypical dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS), Ga1-xMnxAs, is studied across the phase diagram via infrared and optical spectroscopy. We prove that the Fermi energy (EF) resides in a Mn-induced impurity band (IB). Specifically the changes in the frequency dependent optical conductivity [sigma1(omega)] with carrier density are only consistent with EF lying in an IB. Furthermore, the large effective mass (m*) of the carriers inferred from our analysis of sigma1(omega) supports this conclusion. Our findings demonstrate that the metal to insulator transition in this DMS is qualitatively different from other III-V semiconductors doped with nonmagnetic impurities. We also provide insights into the anomalous transport properties of Ga1-xMnxAs.
Burch
K S
KS
Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, California 92093-0319, USA. kburch@lanl.gov
Shrekenhamer
D B
DB
Singley
E J
EJ
Stephens
J
J
Sheu
B L
BL
Kawakami
R K
RK
Schiffer
P
P
Samarth
N
N
Awschalom
D D
DD
Basov
D N
DN