2014/11/25 by Kévin J. A. Franke, Ben Van de Wiele, Franke, Kévin J. A. +9
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1411.6798
8 pages, 7 figures
arxiv created 2014/11/25 · arxiv updated 2014/11/26
Control of magnetic domain wall motion by electric fields has recently attracted scientific attention because of its potential for magnetic logic and memory devices. Here, we report on a new driving mechanism that allows for magnetic domain wall motion in an applied electric field without the concurrent use of a magnetic field or spin-polarized electric current. The mechanism is based on elastic coupling between magnetic and ferroelectric domain walls in multiferroic heterostructures. Pure electric-field driven magnetic domain wall motion is demonstrated for epitaxial Fe films on BaTiO3 with in-plane and out-of-plane polarized domains. In this system, magnetic domain wall motion is fully reversible and the velocity of the walls varies exponentially as a function of out-of-plane electric field strength.