Effect of lanthanide transition metal coupling on the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of Mn co-doped HoZnO system

We report on the effect of Mn substitution in controlling the structural, optical and magnetic properties of the HoZnO system. A series of samples were prepared by solid state reaction with varying Mn content. It is observed from the structural characterization that varying dopant concentration in the host lattice results in varying bond length leading to the inhomogeneous change in the lattice parameters. The Ho ions prefer to reside along the c-axis, while the Mn ions reside along the basal plane of the ZnO wurtzite structure leading to the Ho–Mn coupled pairs. Raman spectroscopy analysis shows that the pairs are coupled together via phonon mode. Results obtained from the UV–Vis spectroscopy show a decrease in the refractive index with Mn addition of the HoZnO system. The Ho–Mn coupling greatly enhances the magnetization making the ZnO a diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) material at 5 K.