UC San Diego

Infrared spectroscopy is used to study the doping and temperature dependence of the intragap absorption in the ferromagnetic semiconductor Ga1-xMnxAs, from a paramagnetic, x=0.017 sample to a heavily doped, x=0.079 sample. Transmission and reflectance measurements coupled with a Kramers-Kronig analysis allow us to determine the optical constants of the thin films. All ferromagnetic samples show a broad absorption resonance near 200 meV, within the GaAs band gap. We present a critical analysis of possible origins of this feature, including a Mn-induced impurity band and intervalence band transitions. The overall magnitude of the real part of the frequency dependent conductivity grows with increasing Mn doping, and reaches a maximum in the x=0.052 sample where T-C saturates at the highest value (similar to70 K) for the series. We observe spectroscopic signatures of compensation and track its impact on the electronic and magnetic state across the Mn phase diagram. The temperature dependence of the far infrared spectrum reveals a significant decrease in the effective mass of itinerant carriers in the ferromagnetic state. A simple scaling relation between changes in the mass and the sample magnetization suggest that the itinerant carriers play a key role in producing the ferromagnetism in this system.