Effect of light illumination on the process of magnetization reversal in carrier-induced ferromagnetic semiconductors

We have found the reduction in coercive force by the light illumination for carrier-induced ferromagnetic semiconductor heterostructure p-(In,Mn)As/GaSb grown by molecular beam epitaxy. This effect disappears when the photogenerated holes recombine with trapped electrons. This strongly suggests that the observed phenomenon is attributed to the carrier-induced magnetism.