X-ray magnetic dichroism in the III-V diluted magnetic semiconductors

Diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) are semiconductors alloyed with magnetic elements [1]. The physical properties of these materials can be tuned by both charge and spin, thus, they have great potential of being used in a wide variety of spintronic applications, such as magneto-optical, magneto-electrical, and magneto-transport devices. Spintronics (spin+electronics) is the technology that transforms reading and writing information by spin rather than by electron charge. This field is inbetween magnetic and electrical properties of semiconductors. Much researcher have been devoted to the study of dilute magnetic semiconductors for use as materials for spintronics. In the present study, we focus our attention on x-ray absorption spectra (XAS) as well as x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and x-ray magnetic linear dichroism (XMLD) in (Ga,Mn)As, (Ga,Mn)N, and (Ga,Gd)N DMSs. XMCD experiments measure the absorption of x-rays with opposite (left and right) direction of circular polarization [2].