Dresden 2009 – scientific programme

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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik

HL 9: Poster 1

HL 9.112: Poster

Monday, March 23, 2009, 14:30–17:00, P2

Magnetic Anisotropy and Anisotropic Magnetoresistance of (Ga,Mn)As Layers on (113)A GaAs — •Daniela Donhauser, Lukas Dreher, Joachim Däubler, Michael Glunk, Christoph Rapp, Wladimir Schoch, Rolf Sauer, and Wolfgang Limmer — Institut für Halbleiterphysik, Universität Ulm, 89069 Ulm, Germany

We study the magnetic anisotropy and the anisotropic magnetoresistance of compressively strained (Ga,Mn)As films with various Mn concentrations, grown on (113)A-oriented GaAs substrates. High-resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD) studies reveal a monoclinic symmetry of the distorted (113)A layers in agreement with an explicit calculation of the strain tensor. Based on this result, general expressions for the resistivity tensor and the free energy of single-crystalline ferromagnets are derived from a series expansion with respect to the magnetization orientation, including terms up to the fourth order. With these expressions we are able to model the measured angular dependences of our magnetotransport data with the assumption of a single ferromagnetic domain model. In order to quantitatively derive the resistivity and anisotropy parameters the longitudinal and transverse resistivities are experimentally studied for magnetic fields rotated within the (113), (33 2), and ( 110) plane at various field strengths. It turned out that some of the resistivity parameters significantly depend on the strength of the external magnetic field. Furthermore we found that the layers exhibit a uniaxial anisotropy along the [001] crystallographic axis, which can be theoretically explained based on the explicit form of the strain tensor.