Recent Advances in Magnetic Ion-Doped Semiconductor Quantum Dots

Dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS) quantum dots (QDs) have potential to be used as basic working components of spin-based electronic devices. Therefore it is important to study these materials from fundamental and technological viewpoints. Quantum confinement effects are known to enhance exchange interactions and induce properties that were previously not observed in bulk materials. In fact, properties are known to alter dramatically when dimensions are reduced to nanometre size regime. In this review we briefly discuss the recent advances in chemical (synthetic) and physical (properties) aspects of DMS QDs. We first discuss the various issues involved in the synthesis of DMS QDs followed by a discussion of the solutions obtained so far. We then discuss the interesting properties of DMS QDs with emphasis on their magnetic, magneto-optical and magneto-electrical properties arising from the cooperative effects of spinexchange interactions.