Electric Field Switching of theMagnetic Anisotropy of a Ferromagnetic Layer Exchange Coupled to the Multiferroic Compound BiFeO3

Delphine Lebeugle (1) , Alexandra Mougin (1) , Michel Viret (2) , D. Colson (2) , Laurent Ranno (3)

1 LPS - Laboratoire de Physique des Solides
2 SPEC - UMR3680 - Service de physique de l'état condensé
3 NEEL - MNM - Micro et NanoMagnétisme

We report here that a Permalloy layer deposited on top of a multiferroic BiFeO3 single crystal acquires an easy magnetic direction along the propagation vector of the cycloidal arrangement of antiferromagnetic moments in BiFeO3. This anisotropy originates from a direct magnetic coupling with the canted spins forming the cycloid. Moreover, we show that an electric field-induced change of electric polarization is able to toggle the direction of anisotropy in the ferromagnet through the magnetoelectric effect, which links the antiferromagnetic spins to the local polarization in BiFeO3.

Mots clés: multiferroique; anisotropie; BiFeO3

Domaines: Electrons fortement corrélés [cond-mat.str-el]; Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Delphine Lebeugle, Alexandra Mougin, Michel Viret, D. Colson, Laurent Ranno. Electric Field Switching of theMagnetic Anisotropy of a Ferromagnetic Layer Exchange Coupled to the Multiferroic Compound BiFeO3. Physical Review Letters, 2009, 103, pp.257601. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.257601⟩. ⟨hal-00460692⟩