Europium Nitride: A Novel Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor

Do Le Binh (1) , B. J. Ruck (1) , F. Natali (1) , H. Warring (1) , H. J. Trodahl (1) , E. M. Anton (1) , Claire Meyer (2) , Laurent Ranno (2) , F. Wilhem (3) , Andrei Rogalev (3)

1 MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology - School of Chemical and Physical Sciences
2 NEEL - MNM - Micro et NanoMagnétisme
3 ESRF - European Synchrotron Radiation Facility

Europium nitride is semiconducting and contains nonmagnetic Eu 3+, but substoichiometric EuN has Eu in a mix of 2+ and 3+ charge states. We show that at Eu 2+ concentrations near 15%-20% EuN is ferromagnetic with a Curie temperature as high as 120 K. The Eu 3+ polarization follows that of the Eu2+, confirming that the ferromagnetism is intrinsic to the EuN which is, thus, a novel diluted magnetic semiconductor. Transport measurements shed light on the likely exchange mechanisms.

Domaines: Electrons fortement corrélés [cond-mat.str-el]

Do Le Binh, B. J. Ruck, F. Natali, H. Warring, H. J. Trodahl, et al.. Europium Nitride: A Novel Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor. Physical Review Letters, 2013, 111, pp.167206. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.167206⟩. ⟨hal-00962328⟩