Magnetic anisotropy in (Ge,Mn)te layers

Abstract

Ferromagnetic resonance study of magnetic anisotropy is presented for thin layers of IV-VI diluted magnetic semiconductor (Ge,Mn)Te with Mn content of 12 and 21 at.% grown by molecular beam epitaxy on BaF2 (111) substrates. The layers with low Mn content grow in the rhombohedral crystal structure and exhibit perpendicular magnetic anisotropy whereas the layers with Mn content higher than about 20 at.% are of cubic (rock-salt) structure and show regular easy-plane type magnetic anisotropy. The quantitative analysis of the angular dependence of the ferromagnetic resonant field is performed taking into account the magnetic energy contributions due to rhombohedral distortion (axial term along the (111) growth direction of the layer) and the crystal field terms allowed for ferromagnetic systems of rhombohedral symmetry.