Impurity band conduction in a high temperature ferromagnetic semiconductor

The band structure of a prototypical dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS), Ga1-xMnxAs, is studied across the phase diagram via infrared and optical spectroscopy. We prove that the Fermi energy (E-F) resides in a Mn-induced impurity band (IB). Specifically the changes in the frequency dependent optical conductivity [sigma(1)(omega)] with carrier density are only consistent with E-F lying in an IB. Furthermore, the large effective mass (m(*)) of the carriers inferred from our analysis of sigma(1)(omega) supports this conclusion. Our findings demonstrate that the metal to insulator transition in this DMS is qualitatively different from other III-V semiconductors doped with nonmagnetic impurities. We also provide insights into the anomalous transport properties of Ga1-xMnxAs.