Mixed magnetic phases in (Ga,Mn)As epilayers

Abstract

Two different ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transitions are detected in (Ga,Mn)As/GaAs(001) epilayers from ac susceptibility measurements: transition at a higher temperature results from (Ga,Mn)As cluster phases with [110] uniaxial anisotropy and that at a lower temperature is associated with a ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As matrix with <100> cubic anisotropy. A change in the magnetic easy axis from [100] to [110] with increasing temperature can be explained by the reduced contribution of <100> cubic anisotropy to the magnetic properties above the transition temperature of the (Ga,Mn)As matrix.