Magneto-optical properties of wider gap semiconductors ZnMnTe and ZnMnSe films prepared by MBE

Abstract

The II-VI based magnetic semiconductors with a direct and wide optical bandgap are expected to show high potential for optical applications utilizing short wavelength laser diodes (LDs), such as 532-nm green and 475-nm blue LDs. We have confirmed that the Faraday rotation θF in the ZnMnTe and ZnMnSe films deposited on quartz glass (QG) and sapphire (SA) substrates by using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is large near the absorption edge. This paper reports the magneto-optical properties of ZnMnTe and ZnMnSe films synthesized on the QG and SA substrates, and shows the result of a direct Faraday rotation observation successfully made for the ZnMnTe films under 1.28-kHz alternating magnetic fields. The optical absorption characteristics of the ZnMnTe films grown on the SA substrates by MBE are discussed by comparing them with the optical absorption properties and photoluminescence spectra of the II-VI ZnTe parent single crystals.

Keywords

• Magnetic semiconductors
• Magneto-optical effects
• Wide bandgap
• ZnMnTe and ZnMnSe films