Shear-strain-induced over 90° rotation of local magnetization in FeCoSiB/PMN-PT (011) multiferroic heterostructures. (15th October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhao, Xinger; Peng, Ren-Ci; Hu, Zhongqiang; Yang, Tiannan; Hou, Weixiao; Zhou, Yuqing; Li, Tao; Du, Qin; Cheng, Yuxin; Wu, Jingen; Wang, Zhiguang; Zhou, Ziyao; Chen, Long-Qing; Liu, Ming
• Is Part Of: Acta materialia. Volume 199(2020)
• Page Start: 495
• Page End: 503
• Publication Date: 2020-10-15
• Subjects: Magnetoelectric effect -- Shear strain -- Magnetic domain -- Magneto-optical Kerr effect; Materials -- Periodicals; Materials science -- Periodicals; Materials -- Mechanical properties -- Periodicals; Metallurgy -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Inorganic -- Periodicals; 620.112
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actamat.2020.08.041
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-6454

Abstract

Abstract: Strain-mediated magnetoelectric effect can be utilized as an energy-efficient approach for spin manipulation. However, over 90° magnetization rotation is still challenging in un-patterned magnetic films, as the piezo-strain driven by ferroelectric domain switching is generally uniaxial rather than unidirectional, which limits the developments of non-volatile magnetic memory and logic devices. Here we demonstrate the rotation of local magnetization with a large angle of 136° by applying strains with a shear component at a fixed magnetic field of 45 Oe in FeCoSiB/PMN-PT (011) multiferroic heterostructures, revealed by a vector-resolved quantitative magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) microscopy. Phase-field simulations confirm that the approximate 140° rotation of magnetization vectors is a consequence of the shear strain associated with ferroelectric/ferroelastic switching of PMN-PT (011) substrates. The visualization of over 90° magnetization rotation induced by the strain with a shear component paves the way for deterministic magnetization switching that has important implications in the energy-efficient spintronic devices. Graphical abstract: Image, graphical abstract