Strain assisted magnetoelectric coupling in ordered nanomagnets of CoFe₂O₄/SrRuO₃/(Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃–PbTiO₃) heterostructures

Abstract We have explored the electric field controlled magnetization in the nanodot CoFe2O4/SrRuO3/PMN-PT (CFO/SRO/PMN-PT) heterostructures. Ordered ferromagnetic CFO nanodots (∼300 nm lateral dimension) are developed on the PMN-PT substrate (ferroelectric as well as piezoelectric) using a nanostencil-mask pattering method during pulsed laser deposition. The nanostructures reveal electric field induced magnetization reversal in the single domain CFO nanodots through transfer of piezostrains from the piezoelectric PMN-PT substrate to the CFO. Further, electric field modulated spin structure of CFO nanomagnets is analyzed by using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). The XMCD analysis reveals cations (Fe3+/Co2+) redistribution on the octahedral and tetrahedral site in the electric field poled CFO nanodots, establishing the strain induced magneto-electric coupling effects. The CFO/SRO/PMN-PT nanodots structure demonstrate multilevel switching of ME coupling coefficient (α) by applying selective positive and negative electric fields in a non-volatile manner. The retention of two stable states of α is illustrated for ∼106 seconds, which can be employed to store the digital data in non-volatile memory devices. Thus the voltage controlled magnetization in the nanodot structures leads a path towards the invention of energy efficient high-density memory devices.