Optical manifestation of the Stoner ferromagnetic transition in two-dimensional electron systems

Abstract

We perform a magneto-optical study of a two-dimensional electron systems (2DES) in the regime of the Stoner ferromagnetic instability for even quantum Hall filling factors on Mg$_x$Zn$_{1-x}$O/ZnO heterostructures. Under conditions of Landau-level crossing, caused by enhanced spin susceptibility in combination with the tilting of the magnetic field, the transition between two rivaling phases- paramagnetic and ferromagnetic- is traced in terms of optical spectra reconstruction. Synchronous sharp transformations are observed both in the photoluminescence structure and parameters of collective excitations upon transition from paramagnetic to ferromagnetic ordering. Based on these measurements, a phase diagram is constructed in terms of the 2D electron density and tilt angle of the magnetic field. Apart from stable paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases, an instability region is found at intermediate parameters with the Stoner transition occurring at $\nu\approx 2$. The spin configuration in all cases is unambiguously determined by means of inelastic light scattering by spin-sensitive collective excitations. One indicator of the spin ordering is the intra-Landau-level spin exciton, which acquires a large spectral weight in the ferromagnetic phases. The other - is an abrupt energy shift of the intersubband charge density excitation due to change in the many-particle energy contribution upon spin rearrangement. From our analysis of photoluminescence and light scattering data, we estimate the ratio of surface areas occupied by the domains of the two phases in the vicinity of a transition point. In addition, the thermal smearing of a phase transition is characterized.