Electric Field-Driven Rotation of Magnetic Vortex Originating from Magnetic Anisotropy Reorientation

Magnetic vortex, a flux-closure spin configuration, has shown potential in future high-density, low-power magnetic memories due to their nanoscale size and exotic magneto-electrical transport properties. Although magnetic vortex can be manipulated by various external stimuli in a controllable way, an electrical field-induced nonvolatile and deterministic reversal rotation of magnetic vortex is yet to be experimentally established. In this work, electrical field-induced deterministic reversible rotation of a magnetic vortex is realized based on an epitaxial gamma '-Fe4N/0.7PbMg(1/3)Nb(2/3)O(3)-0.3PbTiO(3) multiferroic heterostructure. This rotation is nonvolatile and can be triggered by the electric-field pulse. More importantly, it does not require an assistant magnetic field. Combined experiments and theoretical simulations reveal that the rotation of magnetic vortex originates from the strain-mediated reorientation of the in-plane magnetic anisotropy. The results provide an additional degree of freedom for manipulating magnetic vortex, which can open new doors for constructing magnetic vortex-based memory devices.