Abstract
Over the past two decades, the research of (Ga, Mn) As has led to a deeper understanding of relativistic spin-dependent phenomena in magnetic systems. It has also led to discoveries of new effects and demonstrations of unprecedented functionalities of experimental spintronic devices with general applicability to a wide range of materials.
This is a review of the basic material properties that make (Ga, Mn) As a favorable test-bed system for spintronics research and a discussion of contributions of (Ga, Mn) As studies in the general context of the spin-dependent phenomena and device concepts. Special focus is on the spin-orbit coupling induced effects and the reviewed topics include the interaction of spin with electrical current, light, and heat.