Enhancement of magneto-optical effect in a GaAs:MnAs hybrid nanostructure sandwiched by GaAs/AlAs distributed Bragg reflectors:: epitaxial semiconductor-based magneto-photonic crystal

It is shown that magneto-optical effect can be controllably enhanced in a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) grown semiconductor-based multilayer structure consisting of a magnetic layer and GaAs/AlAs distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR), that is a one-dimensional semiconductor-based magneto-photonic crystal. Here, the magnetic layer is GaAs containing MnAs nanoscale clusters (GaAs:MnAs), which can be formed by annealing (GaMn)As alloys at 500 750 degreesC. Struct ural and magneto-optical properties of GaAs : MnAs are presented and its dielectric functions are derived. It is shown that DBR/GaRs:MnAs/DBR structures were successfully grown by MBE and their magneto-optical effect is enhanced due to the localization of light at the Bragg wavelength. Comparison with theoretical calculations of the magneto-optical properties and device potentials are also discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.