Charge and spin distributions in Ga1-xMnxAs/GaAs ferromagnetic multilayers -: art. no. 165308

A self-consistent electronic structure calculation based on the Luttinger-Kohn model is performed on GaMnAs/GaAs multilayers. The diluted magnetic semiconductor layers are assumed to be metallic and ferromagnetic. The high Mn concentration (5% in our calculation) makes it possible to assume the density of magnetic moments as a continuous distribution, when treating the magnetic interaction between holes and the localized moments of the Mn++ sites. Within the supercell approach we calculated the distribution of heavy holes and light holes in the structure. We found a strong spin-polarization, the charge being concentrated mostly on the GaMnAs layers. This happens due to heavy and light holes with their total angular momentum antialigned to the average magnetization being attracted to these regions. The charge and spin distributions are analyzed in terms of their dependence on the number of multilayers, the widths of the GaMnAs and GaAs layers, and the width of the lateral GaAs layers at the borders of the structure.