Spatially resolved inhomogeneous ferromagnetism in (Ga,Mn)as diluted magnetic semiconductors: a microscopic study by muon spin relaxation

Phys Rev Lett. 2008 Jul 11;101(2):027202. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.027202. Epub 2008 Jul 7.

Abstract

Thin epitaxial films of the diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) GaMnAs have been studied by low energy muon spin rotation and relaxation (LE-microSR) as well as by transport and magnetization measurement techniques. LE-microSR allows measurements of the distribution of magnetic field on the nanometer scale inaccessible to traditional macroscopic techniques. The spatial inhomogeneity of the magnetic field is resolved: although homogeneous above Tc, below Tc the DMS consists of ferromagnetic and paramagnetic regions of comparable volumes. In the ferromagnetic regions the local field inhomogeneity amounts to 0.03 T.