Self-consistent electronic structure of spin-polarized dilute magnetic semiconductor quantum wells

The electronic properties of spin-symmetry-broken dilute magnetic semiconductor quantum wells are investigated self-consistently at zero temperature. The spin-split subband structure and carrier concentration of modulation-doped quantum wells are examined in the presence of a strong magnetic field. The effects of exchange and correlations of electrons are included in a local-spin–density-functional approximation. We demonstrate that exchange correlation of electrons decreases the spin-split subband energy but enhances the carrier density in a spin-polarized quantum well. We also observe that as the magnetic field increases, the concentration of spin-down (majority) electrons increases but that of spin-up (minority) electrons decreases. The effect of orbital quantization on the in-plane motion of electrons is also examined and shows a sawtoothlike variation in subband electron concentrations as the magnetic-field intensity increases. The latter variation is attributed to the presence of ionized donors acting as the electron reservoir, which is partially responsible for the formation of the integer quantum Hall plateaus.