Bound magnetic polaron interactions in insulating doped diluted magnetic semiconductors

The magnetic behavior of insulating doped diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS's) is characterized by the interaction of large collective spins known as bound magnetic polarons. Experimental measurements of the susceptibility of these materials have suggested that the polaron-polaron interaction is ferromagnetic, in contrast to the antiferromagnetic carrier-carrier interactions that are characteristic of nonmagnetic semiconductors. To explain this behavior, a model has been developed in which polarons interact via both the standard direct carrier-carrier exchange interaction (due to virtual carrier hopping) and an indirect carrier-ion-carrier exchange interaction (due to the interactions of polarons with magnetic ions in an interstitial region). Using a variational procedure, the optimal values of the model parameters were determined as a function of temperature. At temperatures of interest, the parameters describing polaron-polaron interactions were found to be nearly temperature-independent. For reasonable values of these constant parameters, we find that indirect ferromagnetic interactions can dominate the direct antiferromagnetic interactions and cause the polarons to align. This result supports the experimental evidence for ferromagnetism in insulating doped DMS's.