Ferromagnetism in Cr-Based Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors

It has been recently established that in zinc chalcogenides with Cr$\text{}^{2+}$ paramagnetic ions the p-d interactions are ferromagnetic. We clarify the origins of this property and make predictions concerning other Cr-based diluted magnetic semiconductors. The observation of the ferromagnetic p-d interaction resuscitated hopes for ferromagnetic d-d exchange interactions in diluted magnetic semiconductors. We have calculated the nearest-neighbor superexchange integrals in Cr-based diluted magnetic semiconductors. No simple correlation between the signs of p-d and d-d interactions has been found. Still, there are extended energy regions where the calculated superexchange is ferromagnetic and the act ual parameters of DMS with Cr$\text{}^{2+}$ seem to match these regions.