Bipolar electric field-induced nucleation of magnetic domains with 90° domain walls

Abstract

Magnetoelectric effects in multiferroics give an opportunity to control intrinsic magnetic ordering with an external electric field. In this paper, we demonstrate the emergence of magnetic domains in the local electric field generated by cantilever tip in the (110)-oriented iron garnet film at room temperature. We show that the in-plane magnetized phase observed in this film enables the nucleation of the magnetic domain with 90°domain walls both at positively and negatively biased tip. The found bipolarity of the effect is in contrast to the unipolar nucleation of a bubble domain in the case of a conventional 180° domain wall. The experimental and theoretical studies reveal the mechanism of electric field generation of the 90° magnetic domain and its dependence on the domain wall's chirality.