Abstract
Memory effect of electric-field control on magnetic behavior in magnetoelectric composite heterostructures has been a topic of interest for a long time. Although the piezostrain and its transfer across the interface of ferroelectric/ferromagnetic films are known to be important in realizing magnetoelectric coupling, the underlying mechanism for nonvolatile modulation of magnetic behaviors remains a challenge. Here, we report on the electric-field control of magnetic properties in wide-band (011)-Pr0.7Sr0.3MnO3/0.7Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.3PbTiO3 heterostructures. By introducing an electric-field-induced in-plane anisotropic strain field during the cooling process from room temperature, we observe an in-plane anisotropic, nonvolatile modulation of magnetic properties in a wide-band Pr0.7Sr0.3MnO3 film at low temperatures. We attribute this anisotropic memory effect to the preferential seeding and growth of ferromagnetic (FM) domains under the anisotropic strain field. In addition, we find that the anisotropic, nonvolatile modulation of magnetic properties gradually diminishes as the temperature approaches FM transition, indicating that the nonvolatile memory effect is temperature dependent. By taking into account the competition between thermal energy and the potential barrier of the metastable magnetic state induced by the anisotropic strain field, this distinct memory effect is well explained, which provides a promising approach for designing novel electric-writing magnetic memories.
Highlights
Ying-Ying Zhao1, Jing Wang1, Hao Kuang1, Feng-Xia Hu1, Yao Liu1, Rong-Rong Wu1, Xi-Xiang Zhang2, Ji-Rong Sun1 & Bao-Gen Shen1
The out-of-plane interplanar distance and the out-of-plane epitaxial strain of the film were determined by means of x-ray diffraction (XRD) using Cu-Ka radiation
We examined the performance of the PMN-PT substrate and found that applying an electric bias of 66 kV/cm along [011] can induce a large compressive strain (,20.31%) along in-plane [100] and a very small tensile strain (,0.018%) along in-plane [011] due to the large anisotropic piezoelectric effect of (011)-cut PMN-PT21, which can transfer to the overlying PSMO film19
Summary
By introducing an electric-field-induced in-plane anisotropic strain field during the cooling process from room temperature, we observe an in-plane anisotropic, nonvolatile modulation of magnetic properties in a wide-band Pr0.7Sr0.3MnO3 film at low temperatures. We attribute this anisotropic memory effect to the preferential seeding and growth of ferromagnetic (FM) domains under the anisotropic strain field. With the rapid increasing requirements for information storage, developing compact, innovative devices that offer fast, energy-efficient nonvolatile random access memory is becoming a significant and challenging task To meet this challenge, a new way to control magnetism via electric fields, using the converse magnetoelectric (ME) effect, rather than electric currents or magnetic fields, is attracting tremendous attention. It was assumed that such a nonvolatile magnetic memory effect was due to the modulated energy balance between coexisting FM and charge-ordered antiferromagnetic (COAFM) phases in the phase-separated manganite system
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