Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors: Basic Physics and Optical Properties

Abstract

Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors (DMS) a class of magnetic materials, which fill the gap between ferromagnets and semiconductors (Galazka, Inst Phys Conf Ser 43, 133, 1979, [1]). In the early literature these DMS were often named semimagnetic semiconductors, because they are midway between non magnetic and magnetic materials. DMS are semiconductor compounds (A$$:{1-x}$$ M$$:x$$ B) in which a fraction x of the cations is substituted by magnetic impurities, thereby making the host semiconductor (AB) magnetic.