Magnetoelectric properties of 500 nm Cr2O3 films

Abstract

The linear magnetoelectric effect was measured in 500 nm Cr2O3 films grown by rf sputtering on Al2O3 substrates between top and bottom thin film Pt electrodes. Magnetoelectric susceptibility was measured directly by applying an AC electric field and measuring the induced AC magnetic moment using superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry. A linear dependence of the induced AC magnetic moment on the AC electric field amplitude was found. The temperature dependence of the magnetoelectric susceptibility agreed qualitatively and quantitatively with prior measurements of bulk single crystals, but the characteristic temperatures of the film were lower than those of single crystals. It was also possible to reverse the sign of the magnetoelectric susceptibility by reversing the sign of the magnetic field applied during cooling through the Néel temperature. A competition between total magnetoelectric and Zeeman energies is proposed to explain the difference between film and bulk Cr2O3 regarding the cooling field dependence of the magnetoelectric effect.

accepted at Physical Review B

References in corpus (3)

• Robust isothermal electric switching of interface magnetization: A route to voltage-controlled spintronics
• Equilibrium magnetization at the boundary of a magnetoelectric antiferromagnet
• Full magnetoelectric response of Cr2O3 from first principles

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Voltage control of magnon spin currents in antiferromagnetic Cr2O3
• Low-energy magnetoelectric control of domain states in exchange-coupled heterostructures
• Search for the magnetic monopole at a magnetoelectric surface
• On the sign of the linear magnetoelectric coefficient in Cr${}_2$O${}_3$
• Critical behavior of sputter-deposited magnetoelectric antiferromagnetic Cr${}_2$O${}_3$ films near Néel temperature
• Quadratic magnetoelectric effect during field cooling in sputter grown Cr${}_2$O${}_3$ films
• Magnetic Structure and dielectric properties of antiferromagnetic FeCrO3