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Title: Electric field control of magnetization direction across the antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic transition

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [3]
  1. California State Univ. (CalState), Northridge, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Tongji Univ., Shanghai (China). School of Physics Science and Engineering. MOE Key lab. of Microstructured Materials
  2. Tongji Univ., Shanghai (China). School of Physics Science and Engineering. MOE Key lab. of Microstructured Materials
  3. California State Univ. (CalState), Northridge, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division

Electric-field-induced magnetic switching can lead to a new paradigm of ultra-low power nonvolatile magnetoelectric random access memory (MeRAM). To date the realization of MeRAM relies primarily on ferromagnetic (FM) based heterostructures which exhibit low voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) efficiency. On the other hand, manipulation of magnetism in antiferromagnetic (AFM) based nanojunctions by purely electric field means (rather than E-field induced strain) remains unexplored thus far. Ab initio electronic structure calculations reveal that the VCMA of ultrathin FeRh/MgO bilayers exhibits distinct linear or nonlinear behavior across the AFM to FM metamagnetic transition depending on the Fe- or Rh-interface termination. We predict that the AFM Fe-terminated phase undergoes an E-field magnetization switching with large VCMA efficiency and a spin reorientation across the metamagnetic transition. In sharp contrast, while the Rh-terminated interface exhibits large out-ofplane (in-plane) MA in the FM (AFM) phase, its magnetization is more rigid to external E-field. These findings demonstrate that manipulation of the AFM Néel-order magnetization direction via purely E-field means can pave the way toward ultra-low energy AFM-based MeRAM devices.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1624307
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Vol. 7, Issue 1; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (2)

Imaging uncompensated moments and exchange-biased emergent ferromagnetism in FeRh thin films text January 2019
Imaging uncompensated moments and exchange-biased emergent ferromagnetism in FeRh thin films journal December 2019

Figures / Tables (4)