Exchange coupling between localized spins and band or topological states accounts for giant magnetotransport and magneto-optical effects as well as determines spin-spin interactions in magnetic insulators and semiconductors. However, even in archetypical dilute magnetic semiconductors such as Cd1−xMnxTe and Hg1−xMnxTe the evolution of this coupling with the wave vector k is not understood. For instance, a series of experiments have demonstrated that exchange-induced splitting of magneto-optical spectra of Cd1−xMnxTe and Zn1−xMnxTe at the L points of the Brillouin zone is, in contradiction to the existing theories, more than one order of magnitude smaller compared to its value at the zone center and can show an unexpected sign of the effective Landé factors, opposite to that found for topological Hg1−xMnxTe. The origin of these findings we elucidate quantitatively by combining (i) relativistic first-principles density functional calculations with the modified Becke-Johnson exchange-correlation potential; (ii) a tight-binding approach that takes carefully into account k dependence of the potential and kinetic sp-d exchange interactions; (iii) a theory of magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) for E1 and E1 + 1 optical transitions, developed here within the envelope function k · p formalism for the L point of the Brillouin zone in zinc-blende crystals. This combination of methods leads to the conclusion that the physics of MCD at the boundary of the Brillouin zone is strongly affected by the strength of two relativistic effects in particular compounds: (i) the mass-velocity term that controls the distance of the conduction band at the L point to the upper Hubbard d6 band of Mn ions and, thus, a relative magnitude and sign of the exchange splittings in the conduction and valence bands; (ii) the spin-momentum locking by spin-orbit coupling that reduces exchange splitting depending on the orientation of particular L valleys with respect to the magnetization direction.
Momentum-resolved spin splitting in Mn-doped trivial CdTe and topological HgTe semiconductors
Autieri C.;Cuono G.;
2021
Abstract
Exchange coupling between localized spins and band or topological states accounts for giant magnetotransport and magneto-optical effects as well as determines spin-spin interactions in magnetic insulators and semiconductors. However, even in archetypical dilute magnetic semiconductors such as Cd1−xMnxTe and Hg1−xMnxTe the evolution of this coupling with the wave vector k is not understood. For instance, a series of experiments have demonstrated that exchange-induced splitting of magneto-optical spectra of Cd1−xMnxTe and Zn1−xMnxTe at the L points of the Brillouin zone is, in contradiction to the existing theories, more than one order of magnitude smaller compared to its value at the zone center and can show an unexpected sign of the effective Landé factors, opposite to that found for topological Hg1−xMnxTe. The origin of these findings we elucidate quantitatively by combining (i) relativistic first-principles density functional calculations with the modified Becke-Johnson exchange-correlation potential; (ii) a tight-binding approach that takes carefully into account k dependence of the potential and kinetic sp-d exchange interactions; (iii) a theory of magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) for E1 and E1 + 1 optical transitions, developed here within the envelope function k · p formalism for the L point of the Brillouin zone in zinc-blende crystals. This combination of methods leads to the conclusion that the physics of MCD at the boundary of the Brillouin zone is strongly affected by the strength of two relativistic effects in particular compounds: (i) the mass-velocity term that controls the distance of the conduction band at the L point to the upper Hubbard d6 band of Mn ions and, thus, a relative magnitude and sign of the exchange splittings in the conduction and valence bands; (ii) the spin-momentum locking by spin-orbit coupling that reduces exchange splitting depending on the orientation of particular L valleys with respect to the magnetization direction.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
