Cathodoluminescence study of diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum well/micromagnet hybrid structures

Cathodoluminescence (CL) was studied in hybrid structures consisting of a d iluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) Cd1-xMnxTe (x=0.06 and 0.09) quantum we ll buried 300 Angstrom below the surface on which Fe islands with micrometr ic dimensions were deposited. The CL at T=10 K collected from areas far awa y from the Fe island was consistent with the photoluminescence spectra obta ined prior to Fe deposition as were the raster scans and spot excited CL sp ectra taken in nonmagnetized structures close to the Fe islands. After a ma gnetization at a magnetic field of 3 T, the CL peak related to DMS quantum well (QW) shifts by up to 4 meV to lower energy only when the exciting beam is focused close to edges of an island. The observed shifts are interprete d as due to a fringe field, affecting the DMS QW, of magnetic domains forme d in the Fe islands. The experiments prove a feasibility of the concept of usage of the fringe fields to achieve further confinement of excitons in su bmicron DMS/ferromagnet hybrid structures. (C) 2001 American Institute of P hysics.