2019/09/09 by Anna Kaleta, Slawomir Kret, S. Kret +11
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Condensed matter physics #Ferromagnetism #Heusler alloys: electronic and magnetic properties #Magnetic properties of thin films #Materials science #Metallurgy #Nanocrystal #Nanotechnology #Nanowire #Optoelectronics #Physics #Wurtzite crystal structure #Zinc #ZnO doping and properties #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b02956
published as Nano Lett. 19 (2019) 7324-7333 · 31 pages, 13 figures
openalex publication_date 2019/09/09 · arxiv created 2019/10/14 · arxiv updated 2019/10/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Nearly a 30% increase in the ferromagnetic phase transition temperature has been achieved in strained MnAs nanocrystals embedded in a wurtzite GaAs matrix. Wurtzite GaAs exerts tensile stress on hexagonal MnAs nanocrystals, preventing a hexagonal to orthorhombic structural phase transition, which in bulk MnAs is combined with the magnetic one. This effect results in a remarkable shift of the magneto-structural phase transition temperature from 313 K in the bulk MnAs to above 400 K in the tensely strained MnAs nanocrystals. This finding is corroborated by the state of the art transmission electron microscopy, sensitive magnetometry, and the first-principles calculations. The effect relies on defining a nanotube geometry of molecular beam epitaxy grown core-multishell wurtzite (Ga,In)As/(Ga,Al)As/(Ga,Mn)As/GaAs nanowires, where the MnAs nanocrystals are formed during the thermal-treatment-induced phase separation of wurtzite (Ga,Mn)As into the GaAs-MnAs granular system. Such a unique combination of two types of hexagonal lattices provides a possibility of attaining quasi-hydrostatic tensile strain in MnAs (impossible otherwise), leading to the substantial ferromagnetic phase transition temperature increase in this compound.