Nonmagnetic ground state of Fe2+ in CdSe: Absence of bound magnetic polaron

Donor electrons in (Cd,Fe)Se show no bound magnetic polaron effects in the spin-flip light-scattering spectra, that are usually observed in manganese-based materials. The absence of thermal magnetic fluctuations demonstrates that the ground state of the Fe2+ ion has no permanent magnetic moment a feature of the Van Vleck ions. The spin-flip linewidth is accounted for by consideration of compositional alloy fluctuations. A sizable magnetic anisotropy produces a similar optical anisotropy.