Local atomic and magnetic structure of dilute magnetic semiconductor (Ba, K )(Zn,Mn)2As2

We studied the atomic and magnetic structure of the dilute ferromagnetic semiconductor system (Ba,K)(Zn,Mn)2As2 through atomic and magnetic pair distribution function analysis of temperature-dependent x-ray and neutron total scattering data. Furthermore, we detected a change in curvature of the temperature-dependent unit cell volume of the average tetragonal crystallographic structure at a temperature coinciding with the onset of ferromagnetic order. We also observed the existence of a well-defined local orthorhombic structure on a short length scale of ≲5Å, resulting in a rather asymmetrical local environment of the Mn and As ions. Finally, the magnetic PDF revealed ferromagnetic alignment of Mn spins along the crystallographic c axis, with robust nearest-neighbor ferromagnetic correlations that exist even above the ferromagnetic ordering temperature. Finally, we discuss these results in the context of other experiments and theoretical studies on this system.