Unusual Behaviors of Electric-Field Control of Magnetism in Multiferroic Heterostructures via Multifactor Cooperation

Ce Feng; Yan Liu; Haoliang Huang; Zhaozhao Zhu; Yuanjun Yang; You Ba; Shuying Yan; Jianwang Cai; Yalin Lu; Jinxing Zhang; Sen Zhang; Yonggang Zhao

doi:10.1021/acsami.9b06532

Unusual Behaviors of Electric-Field Control of Magnetism in Multiferroic Heterostructures via Multifactor Cooperation

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2019 Jul 17;11(28):25569-25577. doi: 10.1021/acsami.9b06532. Epub 2019 Jul 2.

Authors

Ce Feng^{1

2}, Yan Liu^{1

2

3}, Haoliang Huang⁴, Zhaozhao Zhu⁵, Yuanjun Yang⁶, You Ba^{1

2}, Shuying Yan⁷, Jianwang Cai⁵, Yalin Lu⁴, Jinxing Zhang⁷, Sen Zhang⁸, Yonggang Zhao^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics and State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics , Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084 , China.
² Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter , Beijing 100084 , China.
³ Key Laboratory of Space Utilization, Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization , Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100094 , China.
⁴ National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory , University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026 , China.
⁵ Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics , Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190 , China.
⁶ School of Electronic Science and Applied Physics , Hefei University of Technology , Hefei 230009 , China.
⁷ Department of Physics , Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875 , China.
⁸ College of Science , National University of Defense Technology , Changsha 410073 , China.

PMID: 31264829
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b06532

Abstract

Electric-field control of magnetism (EFCM) is very important for the exploration of high-density, fast, and nonvolatile random-access memory with ultralow energy consumption. Here, we report the electric-field-induced ferroelectric phase transitions in Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)_0.82Ti_0.18O₃ (PMN-0.18PT) and symmetry breaking of EFCM behaviors for corresponding directions in multiferroic heterostructures composed of amorphous ferromagnetic Co₄₀Fe₄₀B₂₀ (CoFeB) and PMN-0.18PT. We uncover a new mechanism behind the unusual phenomena, involving coupling between CoFeB and PMN-0.18PT via complex cooperation of electric-field-induced ferroelectric phase transitions, competition of different ferroelectric domains, and internal electric field in PMN-0.18PT. The deterministic EFCM with reversible and nonvolatile nature opens up a new avenue for exploring EFCM in multiferroic heterostructures and is also significant for applications.

Keywords: electric-field control of magnetism; electric-field-induced ferroelectric phase transition; ferroelectric domain ratio; internal field; multiferroic heterostructures.