Deterministic magnetic moment rotation in antiferromagnetic material by piezoelectric strain modulation

Abstract

Antiferromagnetic (AFM) spintronic devices play a vital role in the development of novel spintronic devices due to their attractive features. Herein, the interfacial state manipulation of the AFM IrMn material is investigated by combining a ferroelectric single crystal Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.7Ti0.3O3 (PMN-PT) with an electric field (E-field)-controlled magnetic moment arrangement of the IrMn film. A PMN-PT/Cu/IrMn/NiFe heterostructure is chosen to confirm the deterministic manipulation of AFM interfacial states and its angle of magnetic moment rotation. The appropriate thickness of the Cu layer is selected to disrupt the strain-mediated magnetoelectric coupling between the NiFe layer and PMN-PT substrate. The NiFe film reference layer can reflect the variation in AFM interfacial states via the exchange bias. When the E-field is applied, an in-plane piezoelectric strain is produced. If IrMn responds to the strain, its magnetic moment rotates from [001] to [1−10] depending on the crystal orientation of PMN-PT. Based on the experimental results and theoretical analyses, a rotation in the magnetic moment of the IrMn layer by ~20° is confirmed. This work provides convincing evidence for the manipulation of E-field-controlled AFM interfacial states and describes a reliable method for achieving the rotation angle of AFM moments, which can help to accelerate the development of AFM spintronic devices.