Electric-field manipulation of coercivity in FePt/Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 heterostructures investigated by anomalous Hall effect measurement

Abstract

The effect of electric field (E-field) on the magnetism of FePt thin films in FePt/0.7Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–0.3PbTiO3 (PMN–PT) heterostructures was investigated by anomalous Hall effect measurement. For FePt films of different thicknesses, the coercivity vs E-field curves show a typical butterfly-like loop behavior. Further results indicate that the coercivity variation is composed of the volatile symmetrical butterfly-like loop and nonvolatile hysteresis loop-like parts, which originate from the volatile and nonvolatile strains induced by the E-field in the PMN–PT(001) substrate, respectively. No significant difference has been observed after inserting a 2 nm W interlayer, suggesting that the charge-mediated coercivity variation is negligible in FePt/PMN–PT heterostructures.