Flux growth of ZnO crystals doped by transition metals

ZnO crystals doped with Cr, Mn, Fe and Co were grown by the flux method. The prepared crystals revealed no phase separation detectable by X-ray diffraction. Structure properties were characterized by Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy. For ZnO:Co, Mn and Cr, no spontaneous ferromagnetic moment was observed up to T=2 K whereas for the ZnO:Fe crystals the m(H) curves suggest the existence of 5 nm superparamagnetic iron clusters. At low temperatures the m(H) curves can be interpreted as a superposition of major paramagnetic and minor antiferromagnetic contribution. The paramagnetic part corresponds to the presence of Co2+, Fe3+, Mn2+ ions and small Cr atom clusters.