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Warping a single Mn acceptor wavefunction by straining the GaAs host

Nature Materials volume 6, pages 512–515 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Transition-metal dopants such as Mn determine the ferromagnetism in dilute magnetic semiconductors such as Ga1−xMnxAs. Recently, the acceptor states of Mn dopants in GaAs were found to be highly anisotropic owing to the symmetry of the host crystal. Here, we show how the shape of such a state can be modified by local strain. The Mn acceptors near InAs quantum dots are mapped at room temperature by scanning tunnelling microscopy. Dramatic distortions and a reduction in the symmetry of the wavefunction of the hole bound to the Mn acceptor are observed originating from strain induced by quantum dots. Calculations of the acceptor-state wavefunction in the presence of strain, within a tight-binding model and within an effective-mass model, agree with the experimentally observed shape. The magnetic easy axes of strained lightly doped Ga1−xMnxAs can be explained on the basis of the observed local density of states for the single Mn spin.

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Figure 1: Constant-current STM image.
Figure 2: Comparison of the topography (as measured) for manganese dopants in the strained and unstrained GaAs regions of Fig. 1a.
Figure 3: Calculated logarithm of Mn LDOS.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Dutch Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM), NanoNed (a technology programme of the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs via the foundation STW), the ARO MURI DAAD-19-01-1-0541, NSF Grant No. PHY99-07949, the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO) and the EC GROWTH project FENIKS (G5RD-CT-2001-00535) as well as RFBR (05-02-16441), INTAS and the RF Program of Scientific Schools #5596 2006.2 and the Scientific Programs of RAS. The authors would like to thank J. H. Wolter for his important contribution to this research in the early stages. We also thank H. Ohno for comments on the manuscript before submission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. COBRA Inter-University Research Institute, Eindhoven University of Technology, NL-5600MB Eindhoven, PO Box 513, The Netherlands

    A. M. Yakunin, A. Yu. Silov & P. M. Koenraad

  2. Optical Science and Technology Center and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA

    J.-M. Tang & M. E. Flatté

  3. IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium

    J.-L. Primus, W. Van Roy & J. De Boeck

  4. Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, St Petersburg 194021, Russia

    A. M. Monakhov, K. S. Romanov, I. E. Panaiotti & N. S. Averkiev

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  1. A. M. Yakunin
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Correspondence to A. M. Yakunin.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary figues S1-S5 and tables I-IV (PDF 769 kb)

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Yakunin, A., Silov, A., Koenraad, P. et al. Warping a single Mn acceptor wavefunction by straining the GaAs host. Nature Mater 6, 512–515 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1936

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