Antiferromagnetic textures in BiFeO 3 controlled by strain and electric field

A. Haykal (1) , J. Fischer (2) , W. Akhtar (1) , J.-Y. Chauleau (3) , D. Sando (2) , A. Finco (1) , F. Godel (4) , Y. A Birkhölzer (5) , C. Carrétéro (2) , N. Jaouen (6) , M. Bibes (2) , M. Viret (3) , S. Fusil (2) , Vincent Jacques (1) , Vincent Garcia (2)

1 L2C - Laboratoire Charles Coulomb
2 Laboratoire Albert Fert (ex-UMPhy Unité mixte de physique CNRS/Thales)
3 LNO - Laboratoire Nano-Magnétisme et Oxydes
4 IPCMS - Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg
5 MESA+ - Institute for Nanotechnology
6 SSOLEIL - Synchrotron SOLEIL

Antiferromagnetic thin films are currently generating considerable excitement for low dis-sipation magnonics and spintronics. However, while tuneable antiferromagnetic textures form the backbone of functional devices, they are virtually unknown at the submicron scale. Here we image a wide variety of antiferromagnetic spin textures in multiferroic BiFeO 3 thin films that can be tuned by strain and manipulated by electric fields through room-temperature magnetoelectric coupling. Using piezoresponse force microscopy and scanning NV magne-tometry in self-organized ferroelectric patterns of BiFeO 3 , we reveal how strain stabilizes different types of non-collinear antiferromagnetic states (bulk-like and exotic spin cycloids) as well as collinear antiferromagnetic textures. Beyond these local-scale observations, resonant elastic X-ray scattering confirms the existence of both types of spin cycloids. Finally, we show that electric-field control of the ferroelectric landscape induces transitions either between collinear and non-collinear states or between different cycloids, offering perspectives for the design of reconfigurable antiferromagnetic spin textures on demand.

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

A. Haykal, J. Fischer, W. Akhtar, J.-Y. Chauleau, D. Sando, et al.. Antiferromagnetic textures in BiFeO 3 controlled by strain and electric field. Nature Communications, 2020, 11 (1), ⟨10.1038/s41467-020-15501-8⟩. ⟨hal-02909544⟩