Reversible Control of Magnetic Interactions by Electric Field in a Single Phase Material

Abstract

Intrinsic magnetoelectric coupling describes the interaction between magnetic and electric polarization through an inherent microscopic mechanism in a single phase material. This phenomenon has the potential to control the magnetic state of a material with an electric field, an enticing prospect for device engineering. We demonstrate 'giant' magnetoelectric cross-field control in a single phase rare earth titanate film. In bulk form, EuTiO3 is antiferromagnetic. However, both anti and ferromagnetic interactions coexist between different nearest neighbor europium ions. In thin epitaxial films, strain can be used to alter the relative strength of the magnetic exchange constants. Here, we not only show that moderate biaxial compression precipitates local magnetic competition, but also demonstrate that the application of an electric field at this strain state, switches the magnetic ground state. Using first principles density functional theory, we resolve the underlying microscopic mechanism resulting in the EuTiO3 G-type magnetic structure and illustrate how it is responsible for the 'giant' cross-field magnetoelectric effect.

References in corpus (5)

• Giant sharp magnetoelectric switching in multiferroic epitaxial La_{0.67}Sr_{0.33}MnO_3 on BaTiO_3
• Electric field control of exchange bias in multiferroic epitaxial heterostructures
• First-principles prediction of oxygen octahedral rotations in perovskite-structure EuTiO3
• The nature of Ho magnetism in multiferroic HoMnO3
• Dipolar excitations at the LIII x-ray absorption edges of the heavy rare earth metals

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Strain Doping: Reversible Single-Axis Control of a Complex Oxide Lattice via Helium Implantation
• Emergence of a Dynamic Super-Structural Order Integrating Antiferroelectric and Antiferrodistortive Competing Instabilities in EuTiO3
• Low-symmetry monoclinic phase stabilized by oxygen octahedra rotations in thin strained EuxSr1-xTiO3 films
• Defect engineering of magnetic ground state in EuTiO${}_3$ epitaxial thin films
• Correlating magnetic structure and magnetotransport in semimetal thin films of Eu${}_{1-x}$Sm${}_x$TiO${}_3$
• Magnetic resonance study of bulk and thin film EuTiO3
• Size Effects of Ferroelectric and Magnetoelectric Properties of Semi-ellipsoidal Bismuth Ferrite Nanoparticles