Antiferromagnetic I-Mn-V semiconductors

TL;DR

This paper explores antiferromagnetic I-Mn-V semiconductors, demonstrating their potential for high-temperature spintronics through experimental growth and theoretical analysis of their electronic and spin-orbit properties.

Contribution

It introduces a new class of high N'eel temperature antiferromagnetic semiconductors and demonstrates their growth, electronic structure, and spin-orbit characteristics relevant for spintronics.

Findings

Successful growth of single crystals via molecular beam epitaxy.

Identification of semiconducting band structure in I-Mn-V compounds.

Analysis of spin-orbit coupling properties favorable for spintronics.

Abstract

After decades of research, the low Curie temperature of ferromagnetic semiconductors remains the key problem in the development of magnetic semiconductor spintronic technologies. Removing this roadblock might require a change of the field's basic materials paradigm by looking beyond ferromagnets. Recent studies of relativistic magnetic and magnetotransport anisotropy effects, which in principle are equally well present in materials with ferromagnetically and antiferromagnetically ordered spins, have inspired our search for antiferromagnetic semiconductors suitable for high-temperature spintronics. Since these are not found among the magnetic counterparts of common III-V or II-VI semi- conductors, we turn the attention in this paper to high N \'eel temperature I-II-V magnetic compounds whose electronic structure has not been previously identified. Our combined experimental and theoretical work on LiMnAs provides basic prerequisite for the systematic research of this class of materials by demonstrating the feasibility to grow single crystals of group-I alkali metal compounds by molecular beam epitaxy, by demonstrating the semiconducting band structure of the I-Mn-V's, and by analyzing their spin-orbit coupling characteristics favorable for spintronics.