2011/09/26 by Tuomas H. E. Lahtinen, Kévin J. A. Franke, Sebastiaan van Dijken
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Condensed matter physics #Dielectric #Domain wall (magnetism) #Electric field #Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials #Ferroelectricity #Ferromagnetism #Magnetic and transport properties of perovskites and related materials #Magnetic anisotropy #Magnetic domain #Magnetic field #Magnetization #Magnetocrystalline anisotropy #Materials science #Multiferroics and related materials #Optoelectronics #Physics #Spintronics #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/srep00258
published as Scientific Reports 2, 258 (2012) · 6 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2011/09/26 · openalex publication_date 2012/02/10 · arxiv updated 2012/02/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Spintronic devices currently rely on magnetic switching or controlled motion of domain walls by an external magnetic field or spin-polarized current. Achieving the same degree of magnetic controllability using an electric field has potential advantages including enhanced functionality and low power consumption. Here we report on an approach to electrically control local magnetic properties, including the writing and erasure of regular ferromagnetic domain patterns and the motion of magnetic domain walls, in CoFe-BaTiO(3) heterostructures. Our method is based on recurrent strain transfer from ferroelastic domains in ferroelectric media to continuous magnetostrictive films with negligible magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Optical polarization microscopy of both ferromagnetic and ferroelectric domain structures reveals that domain correlations and strong inter-ferroic domain wall pinning persist in an applied electric field. This leads to an unprecedented electric controllability over the ferromagnetic microstructure, an accomplishment that produces giant magnetoelectric coupling effects and opens the way to electric-field driven spintronics.