Abstract
Magneto-ionics is an emerging field in materials science where voltage is used as an energy-efficient means to tune magnetic properties, such as magnetization, coercive field, or exchange bias, by voltage-driven ion transport. We first discuss the emergence of magneto-ionics in the last decade, its core aspects, and key avenues of research. We also highlight recent progress in materials and approaches made during the past few years. We then focus on the "structural-ion"approach as developed in our research group in which the mobile ions are already present in the target material and discuss its potential advantages and challenges. Particular emphasis is given to the energetic and structural benefits of using nitrogen as the mobile ion, as well as on the unique manner in which ionic motion occurs in CoN and FeN systems. Extensions into patterned systems and textures to generate imprinted magnetic structures are also presented. Finally, we comment on the prospects and future directions of magneto-ionics and its potential for practical realizations in emerging fields, such as neuromorphic computing, magnetic random-access memory, or micro- and nano-electromechanical systems.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 070501 |
Journal | Applied Physics Letters |
Volume | 120 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 14 2022 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
Financial support by the European Research Council (SPIN-PORICS 2014-Consolidator Grant Agreement No. 648454, and the MAGIC-SWITCH 2019-Proof of Concept Grant, Agreement No. 875018), the Spanish Government (Nos. MAT2017-86357-C3-1-R, PDC2021-121276-C31, and PID2020-116844RB-C21), the Generalitat de Catalunya (2017-SGR-292 and 2018-LLAV-00032), and the European Regional Development Fund (Nos. MAT2017-86357-C3-1-R and 2018-LLAV-00032) were acknowledged. E.M. acknowledges support as a Serra Húnter Fellow. G.R. acknowledges support from Ayudas Ramon y Cajal No. RYC-2016-21412.