Magneto-optical study of nonmagnetic quantum dots coupled to a magnetic semiconductor quantum well

We have investigated a series of double-layer structures consisting of a layer of self-assembled non-magnetic CdSe quantum dots (QDs) separated by a thin ZnSe barrier from a ZnCdMnSe diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMSs) quantum well (QW). In the series, the thickness of the ZnSe barrier ranged between 12 and 40 nm. We observe two clearly defined photoluminescence (PL) peaks in all samples, corresponding to the CdSe QDs and the ZnCdMnSe QW, respectively. The PL intensity of the QW peak is observed to decrease systematically relative to the QD peak as the thickness of the ZnSe barrier decreases, indicating a corresponding increase in carrier tunneling from the QW to the QDs. Furthermore, polarization-selective PL measurements reveal that the degree of polarization of the PL emitted by the CdSe QDs increases with decreasing thickness of the ZnSe barriers. The observed behavior is discussed in terms of anti-parallel spin interaction between carriers localized in the non-magnetic QDs and in the magnetic QWs. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.