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Phys. Rev. B 81, 045319 (2010) [6 pages]

Interlayer and interfacial exchange coupling in ferromagnetic metal/semiconductor heterostructures

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M. J. Wilson1, M. Zhu1, R. C. Myers2, D. D. Awschalom2, P. Schiffer1, and N. Samarth1,*
1Department of Physics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
2Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA

Received 21 May 2009; revised 16 December 2009; published 25 January 2010

We describe a systematic study of the exchange coupling between a magnetically hard metallic ferromagnet (MnAs) and a magnetically soft ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga1−xMnxAs) in bilayer and trilayer heterostructures. An exchange spring model of MnAs/Ga1−xMnxAs bilayers accounts for the variation in the exchange-bias field with layer thickness and composition. We also present evidence for hole-mediated interlayer exchange coupling in MnAs/p-GaAs/Ga1−xMnxAs trilayers and study the dependence of the exchange-bias field on the thickness of the spacer layer.

© 2010 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.81.045319
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevB.81.045319
PACS:
75.50.Pp, 75.75.-c, 81.16.-c

*nsamarth@psu.edu

 
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