Effect of the paramagnetic to spin-glass phase transition on the fundamental absorption edge of MnIn2Se4 magnetic semiconducting compound

Abstract

The temperature dependence of the indirect and direct fundamental band gaps of the layered compound MnIn2Se4, that crystallizes in a rhombohedral defect structure with space group R3m(D3d5), was studied by optical absorption spectra. The data were analyzed in terms of current theoretical models that take into account the contribution of antiferromagnetic exchange interaction between spins to the shift of the energy gap EG with T in the vicinity of the critical paramagnetic to spin-glass phase transition. It was established that short- and long-range effect spin correlations dominate the contribution to this shift in the critical region below about 20 K, near the spin-glass freezing temperature Tf, and noncritical one, between about 70 and 160 K, far from Tf, respectively. An intermediate temperature region, compatible with the behaviour expected for a cluster-glass transition where a gradual freezing of the magnetic moments occurs, was also observed.