Dynamical properties of nanostructured Ferromagnet - Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor Hybrids

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Gerd Bacher; Professor Dr. Fritz Henneberger (†)
• Subject Area: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: from 2002 to 2009
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5373082

We intend to develop novel ferromagnet-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures and to study their dynamical properties in a wide time range. Our idea is to use a diluted magnetic semiconductor, where the ionic moments give rise to giant g-factors providing substantial changes in the optical properties, even in the relatively weak stray field of an adjacent ferromagnet. The optical features of the DMS will serve as a probe for the magnetic properties of the nanomagnets and their dynamical behavior. We intend to use intensive optical excitation for field modulation via current injection or thermal heating and to gain information about the preccesional response, the transient FM-DMS coupling as well as spin-lattice relaxation. Conversely, the stray field of the FM wires and dots will be utilized to manipulate the lateral spin distribution in the DMS via the giant Zeeman effect. We will be elucidating the length and times scales of spin transport, the spin coherence and the magnetization dynamics, values of fundamental importance for achieving semiconductor spin nanostructures. Our studies will allow us to evaluate the potential of the hybrid structures for laterally selective spin injection into a semiconductor without external magnetic field.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1133: Ultrafast magnetization processes