Abstract
Given the paucity of single phase multiferroic materials (with large ferromagnetic moment), composite systems seem an attractive solution to realize magnetoelectric coupling between ferromagnetic and ferroelectric order parameters. Despite having antiferromagnetic order, BiFeO3 (BFO) has nevertheless been a key material due to excellent ferroelectric properties at room temperature. We studied a superlattice composed of 8 repetitions of 6 unit cells of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) grown on 5 unit cells of BFO. Significant net uncompensated magnetization in BFO, an insulating superlattice, is demonstrated using polarized neutron reflectometry. Remarkably, the magnetization enables magnetic field to change the dielectric properties of the superlattice, which we cite as an example of synthetic magnetoelectric coupling. Importantly, controlled creation of magnetic moment in BFO is a much needed path toward design and implementation of integrated oxide devices for next generation magnetoelectric data storage platforms.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 9089 |
| Journal | Scientific Reports |
| Volume | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2015 |
Funding
This work was supported by the LANL/LDRD program and was performed, in part, at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, an Office of Science User Facility operated for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. This work has benefited from the use of the Spallation Neutron Source (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) and the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center (Los Alamos National Laboratory), which are funded by the Scientific User Facilities Division of the Department of Energy\u2019s Office of Basic Energy Science. Part of the work was carried out at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory\u2019s High B/T Facility supported by the NSF-DMR-1157490. Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by Los Alamos National Security LLC under DOE Contract DE-AC52-06NA25396. P.J. would also like to acknowledge the support of the U.S. National Science Foundation I2CAM International Materials Institute Award, Grant DMR-1411344. The research at UCSD was supported by the Office of Basic Energy Science, U.S. Department of Energy, BES-DMS funded by the Department of Energy\u2019s Office of Basic Energy Science, DMR under grant DE FG02 87ER-45332. Research at UCM sponsored by the ERC Starting Investigator Award STEMOX 739239.