Wigner-Seitz approach to spin splitting

Abstract

A method is proposed that allows for a more precise evaluation of the spin splitting of electronic levels induced by the exchange interaction between effective-mass electrons and localized magnetic moments in dilute magnetic semiconductors. The method is nonperturbative, surpasses the molecular-field approximation (MFA), and is developed in the spirit of the muffin-tin model. Surprisingly, the corrections to the MFA exhibit a strong variation with the concentration of magnetic ions, accounting for the hitherto unexplained dependence of the apparent p-d exchange integral on x in ${\mathrm{Cd}}_{1\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathit{x}}$${\mathrm{Mn}}_{\mathit{x}}$S.