Ferroelectric-driven tunable magnetism in ultrathin platinum films

Authors

Qilong Sun, California State University, Northridge
Farzad Mahfouzi, California State University, Northridge
Julian P. Velev, University of Puerto Rico
Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, University of Nebraska at LincolnFollow
Nicholas Kioussis, California State University, Northridge

Date of this Version

12-2-2020

Citation

QILONG SUN et al. PHYSICAL REVIEW MATERIALS 4, 124401 (2020). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.4.124401

Comments

Used by permission.

Abstract

Electric control of magnetism in magnetoelectric (ME) multiferroics is expected to have a significant impact on a wide range of technological applications. Here, we predict the modulation of magnetism in ultrathin platinum films due to the ferroelectric polarization of the BaTiO₃ substrate, which along with biaxial strain changes the density of states at the Fermi energy. We demonstrate that both the magnitude and direction of the magnetization depend strongly on the polarization direction and/or strain. This leads to an unprecedented ME effect involving a giant change of magnetocrystalline anisotropy under polarization switching due to the large spin-orbit coupling of Pt. These findings pave the way of an alternative strategy for the design of nonvolatile and ultralow power spintronics and magnetic memory storage devices.