Engineering a Correlated Narrow-Gap Semiconductor: Effects of Ga Substitution in EuZn$_2$P$_2$
Abstract
The effect of Ga substitution on the electronic, magnetic, and low-energy responses of the Zintl phase EuZnP is investigated by electrical transport, electron spin resonance (ESR), and terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). Incorporating Ga into EuZnP (EuZnGaP) reduces the electrical resistivity, indicating enhanced free-carrier density and a narrowed semiconducting gap. ESR confirms the persistence of Eu moments while showing a crossover from a Lorentzian to a Dysonian lineshape, consistent with reduced skin depth, increased carrier density, and the emergence of diffusive contributions. Ga-substituted compound display pronounced negative magnetoresistance linked to magnetic-polaron formation. THz-TDS reveals strong low-frequency absorption and a notable enhancement of the Drude conductivity in the substituted material, together with an increased carrier scattering time and enhanced carrier-density--to--effective-mass ratio. These results demonstrate that Ga substitution tunes charge transport, carrier dynamics, and short-range magnetic correlations in EuZnP, establishing EuZnGaP as a promising platform for engineering correlated narrow-gap magnetic semiconductors with enhanced electronic and spin-dependent functionalities.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2512.17123,
title = {Engineering a Correlated Narrow-Gap Semiconductor: Effects of Ga Substitution in EuZn$_2$P$_2$},
author = {M. Dutra and E. Marulanda and G. G. Vasques and J. F. Oliveira and P. C. Sabino and R. B. Delgado and L. Mendonça-Fereira and A. R. V. Benvenho and E. Baggio-Saitovitch and R. K. Machado and N. M. Kawahala and J. Munevar and M. A. Avila and F. G. G. Hernandez},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.17123},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
16 pages, 9 figures