Interlayer coupling in EuS/SrS, EuS/PbSe and EuS/PbTe magnetic semiconductor superlatices

TL;DR

This study investigates interlayer magnetic coupling in EuS-based semiconductor superlattices, revealing weak or no coupling depending on spacer material and energy gap, challenging some theoretical predictions.

Contribution

It provides experimental neutron reflectivity data on EuS/semiconductor superlattices, highlighting the dependence of interlayer coupling on spacer material properties and lattice mismatch.

Findings

Weak antiferromagnetic coupling in EuS/SrS and EuS/PbSe.

No interlayer coupling detected in EuS/PbTe.

Contradiction with theoretical predictions for narrow-gap spacers.

Abstract

Neutron reflectivity studies of EuS/SrS, EuS/PbSe, and EuS/PbTe all-semiconductor superlattices were carried out in search for exchange interlayer coupling. A relatively weak antiferromagnetic coupling was found in EuS/SrS and in EuS/PbSe systems but no interlayer coupling was detected in EuS/PbTe superlattices. In EuS/SrS, where the SrS spacer is an insulator ($E_g\approx 4$ eV), a very weak and short range interlayer coupling is in agreement with the earlier theoretical predictions that the interlayer coupling strength in EuS-based magnetic semiconductor superlattices depends strongly on the energy gap of the nonmagnetic layer and should decrease with an increase of the energy gap of the spacer material. A weak coupling in EuS/PbSe and no coupling in EuS/PbTe, where both PbSe and PbTe are narrow-gap semiconductors ($E_g\approx 0.3$ eV), is in disagreement not only with the theoretical expectations but also in a stark contrast with earlier results for another narrow-gap spacer system -- EuS/PbS, where pronounced antiferromagnetic coupling persists even in samples with PbS layer thickness as large as 200 \AA. A possible influence of the increasing lattice mismatch between EuS and the spacer materials (0.5%, 0.8%, 2.5%, and 8.2% for PbS, SrS, PbSe, and PbTe, respectively) on the magnetic in-plane ordering of EuS layer and, consequently, on the interlayer coupling was investigated by polarized neutron reflectometry in the case of EuS/PbTe.