Faraday Rotation in a DMS Quantum Well

Abstract

The present report concerns a theoretical study of the Faraday rotation in a quantum well system in a magnetic semiconductor; in particular, a (Cd, Mn)Te well confined by finite potential barriers of (Cd, Zn)Te. In this system, the oscillator strengths for right- and left-handed circularly polarized excitons increase as the width of the well is reduced, and the difference between them increases as well. On the other hand, the Zeeman shift decreases in comparison to the bulk value. It is shown that an enhancement of the Faraday rotation can occur in this system owing to the above difference in oscillator strength which increases to more than compensate for the reduction of the Zeeman shift.