Time-resolved magnetophotoluminescence studies of magnetic polaron dynamics in type-II quantum dots

Abstract

We used continuous wave photoluminescence (cw-PL) and time-resolved photoluminescence (TR-PL) spectroscopy to compare the properties of magnetic polarons (MP) in two related spatially indirect II-VI epitaxially grown quantum dot systems. In the ZnTe/(Zn, Mn)Se system the holes are confined in the nonmagnetic ZnTe quantum dots (QDs), and the electrons reside in the magnetic (Zn, Mn)Se matrix. On the other hand, in the (Zn, Mn)Te/ZnSe system, the holes are confined in the magnetic (Zn, Mn)Te QDs, while the electrons remain in the surrounding nonmagnetic ZnSe matrix. The magnetic polaron formation energies E-MP in both systems were measured from the temporal redshift of the band-edge emission. The magnetic polaron exhibits distinct characteristics depending on the location of the Mn ions. In the ZnTe/(Zn, Mn)Se system the magnetic polaron shows conventional behavior with E-MP decreasing with increasing temperature T and increasing magnetic field B. In contrast, E-MP in the (Zn, Mn)Te/ZnSe system has unconventional dependence on temperature T and magnetic field B; E-MP is weakly dependent on T as well as on B. We discuss a possible origin for such a striking difference in the MP properties in two closely related QD systems.