Jacek K. Furdyna

This paper describes the contributions made by Władysław (Władek) Walukiewicz and his colleagues to the field of ferromagnetic semiconductor (FMS) alloys, such as (Ga,Mn)As. We focus on two key accomplishments. First, this team has predicted the formation of Mn interstitials in these materials, which have a profound effect on ferromagnetism in semiconductors. Additionally, identifying the conditions at which interstitials form has provided grounds for optimizing their ferromagnetic properties. Second, by applying the approach of band anticrossing to ferromagnetic semiconductors, this team has mapped out the properties of an Mn-derived impurity band in these materials. This is of particular importance in the field, because holes, which reside in the Mn-derived impurity band, are the very mechanism responsible for ferromagnetic order in FMSs. We discuss the effect that these accomplishments have on our understanding of FMSs and how they have contributed to progress in this area. We then describe the pathways that these achievements have opened up toward further progress in both basic and applied fronts of ferromagnetism in semiconducting systems; and we present our perspective on where additional work along the lines initiated by Władek Walukiewicz should be extended to further benefit this field.

We present the observation of field-free spin-orbit-torque (SOT) switching of magnetization in a ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As film with four-fold in-plane magnetic anisotropy. Magnetization switching is demonstrated between two orthogonal in-plane easy axes through planar Hall resistance measurements as a current is scanned in the absence of a magnetic field. The chirality of the switching of the current hysteresis loop is consistent with SOT arising from spin polarization caused by Dresselhaus- and Rashba-type spin-orbit-induced effective magnetic fields in the (Ga,Mn)As film. The chirality of magnetization switching can be reversed either by changing the direction of the initial magnetization or by applying a constant external magnetic field bias. The SOT magnetization switching between two states was consistently repeated by applying sequential current pluses with alternating polarities, indicating the potential for developing a field-free SOT device.