Coupling magnetism to ferroelectricity

Spintronics systems are currently operated by electrical current actuation, which requires much larger energy consumption, and which is less local than electrical field actuation used in usual electric circuits. Electrical field actuation of magnetic properties has therefore become an intense field of research.

Here [1] the influence of different parameters like temperature and direction of applied magnetic field on the type of magnetoelectric (ME) coupling (strain or charge mediated, see figure) is demonstrated in a ferroelectric (FE) / ferromagnetic (FM) heterostructure.

Schematic of (a) strain mediated and (b) charge mediated magnetoelectric coupling in FE-FM heterostructure. The butterfly loop is characteristic of in-plane piezoelectric strain vs electric field. Charge mediated coupling occurs via accumulation/depletion of charges at the interface as depicted for LSMO/PMN-PT(001).
Schematic of (a) strain mediated and (b) charge mediated magnetoelectric coupling in FE-FM heterostructure. The butterfly loop is characteristic of in-plane piezoelectric strain vs electric field. Charge mediated coupling occurs via accumulation/depletion of charges at the interface as depicted for LSMO/PMN-PT(001).
Copyright:
— Forschungszentrum Jülich

References:

  • Bhatnagar-Schöffmann, E. Kentzinger, A. Sarkar, P. Schöffmann, Q. Lan, L. Jin, A. Kovács, A.J. Grutter, B.J. Kirby, R. Beerwerth, M. Waschk, A. Stellhorn, U. Rücker, R.E. Dunin-Borkowski and Th. Brückel,
    Differentiation between strain and charge mediated magnetoelectric coupling in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.7Ti0.3O3(001), submitted (2021)
    New Journal of Physics, Volume 23, June 2021

  • Patrick Schöffmann et al
    Strain and charge contributions to the magnetoelectric coupling in Fe3O4 /PMN-PT 34 artificial multiferroic heterostructures
    New J. Phys. 24 123036 2022

Dr. Emmanuel Kentzinger

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Last Modified: 13.01.2025