Magnetophotoluminescence and energy-dependent circular polarization from CdMnS nanowires

We measured the Zeeman shift and the circular polarization of the magnetophotoluminescence from CdMnS nanowires. The circular polarization of the CdMnS nanowires reaches up to 5% at 5K, the polarization being dependent upon photon energies. The relatively small circular polarization is explained by the fact that the carriers are not in states with well defined angular momentum due to the nature of the wurtzite structure. The strong photon energy dependence of the circular polarization is attributed to the energy relaxation process via phonon emission, rather than by the variation of the nanowire diameters or by the Mn concentrations.