New III-V-based diluted magnetic semiconductor, GaCrN is successfully grown on sapphire (0 0 0 1) substrate by electron-cyclotron-resonance plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Magnetic and optical properties of GaCrN are studied. Ferromagnetic characteristics are confirmed at 7-400 K. Strong photoluminescence (PL) emission is also observed. PL peak energy is located at about 3.29 eV, being about 180 meV lower than the free-excitonic transition in GaN. This emission is attributed to the band-to-band transition in GaCrN. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.