Graded quantum well structures made of diluted magnetic semiconductors

In this paper we review results of studies of two types of spatially' graded quantum well structures containing various layers of diluted magnetic semiconductors Cd1-xMnxTe or Cd1-x-yMnxMgyTe. The design of the structures has been recently proposed by us and suitable samples have been grown by a modified molecular beam epitaxy method. In the structures of the first type a digital profiling of the composition of the constituent material in the growth direction allowed to produce quantum wells with a specifically required shape of the confining potential (including parabolic, half-parabolic, triangular, and trapezoidal). Such samples were used for (i) determination of the conduction and valence band offsets in MnTe/CdTe and MgTe/CdTe systems, (ii) for the demonstration of an enhanced exciton binding in a parabolic confining potential as well as for (iii) demonstration of the possibility of 'spin-splitting engineering' in the diluted magnetic semiconductors quantum structures. In the second type of structures, a precise in-plane profiling of either quantum well width or the barrier width or n-type doping intensity was realized. These structures were subsequently used for studies of the evolution of optical spectra with an increase in the concentration of confined two-dimensional gas of conduction electrons. (author)