Peculiarities in Optical and Magneto-Optical Spectra of GaMnSb Layers Grown by Laser Ablation

Abstract

Optical and magneto-optical properties of GaMnSb layers fabricated on GaAs (001) substrates by laser ablation technique were studied using spectral ellipsometry (E =1.24-3.25 eV) and the transversal Kerr effect (TKE) (E = 0.5 4.2 eV) as well as atomic and magnetic force microscopy. Spectra of the constituents of the diagonal components of the permittivity tensor as well as TKE depended substantially on the layer fabrication conditions. At room temperature a strong resonant band was observed in the TKE spectra for the GaMnSb layers with low Mn content in the energy range E 0.5-1.5 eV. This resonant TKE band was explained by excitation of surface plasmons in MnSb nanoclusters, which arose during the growth of the layers. In the energy region E >1.5 eV the TKE spectra were related to interband transitions in MnSb inclusions.