Non-volatile ferroelastic switching of the Verwey transition and resistivity of epitaxial Fe3O4/PMN-PT (011)

Abstract

A central goal of electronics based on correlated materials or ‘Mottronics’ is the ability to switch between distinct collective states with a control voltage. Small changes in structure and charge density near a transition can tip the balance between competing phases, leading to dramatic changes in electronic and magnetic properties. In this work, we demonstrate that an electric field induced two-step ferroelastic switching pathway in (011) oriented 0.71Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.29PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) substrates can be used to tune the Verwey metal-insulator transition in epitaxial Fe3O4 films in a stable and reversible manner. We also observe robust non-volatile resistance switching in Fe3O4 up to room temperature, driven by ferroelastic strain. These results provides a framework for realizing non-volatile and reversible tuning of order parameters coupled to lattice-strain in epitaxial oxide heterostructures over a broad range of temperatures, with potential device applications.

Iron oxide surfaces

“…Interface engineering offers an interesting opportunity to improve performance. More recently, researchers have thought to use the Verwey transition as a switch in the emerging field of "Mottronics" [31].…”

Local twin domains and tip-voltage-induced domain switching of monoclinicMCphase inPb(Mg1/3Yang1, Luo2, Sun3 et al. 2016Phys. Rev. B163140View full textAdd to dashboardCite

“…What's more, because of the ferroelastic property, the non-180º switching of ferroelectric domains will be accompanied with strain variation. The domain switching paths under electric-field in the single crystal with M phase will be more diversified due to the complexity of domain structure, which makes it attractive to the application in the strain-transfer-based multiferroic heterostructure and the related devices [30][31][32][33][34]. Therefore, in order to understand the domain contribution and to use it better, the switching process of the domains of the M phase should be investigated [35][36][37][38].…”

Electric field modification of magnetotransport in Ni thin films on (011) PMN-PT piezosubstrates

“…2 There are numerous reports on voltage control of magnetization (see, e.g., reviews, 1-4 references therein, and recent Refs. 5 11), whereas for electric field effects on the anisotropic [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] and giant 13,21,22 [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]13,14,16,17,20 In such structures, upon application of an electric field, the piezoactive substrate induces a strain in the ferro(i)magnetic film and hence modifies its magnetic properties due to the magnetoelastic coupling effect. The (011) cut is particularly suitable because of the possibility of obtaining a high and well-defined uniaxial anisotropy by inducing simultaneously compressive and tensile strains in orthogonal [100] (x) and [011] (y) in-plane directions due to the different signs of d 31 and d 32 piezocoefficients.…”

“…The (011) cut is particularly suitable because of the possibility of obtaining a high and well-defined uniaxial anisotropy by inducing simultaneously compressive and tensile strains in orthogonal [100] (x) and [011] (y) in-plane directions due to the different signs of d 31 and d 32 piezocoefficients. 5,13 Voltage control of magnetization has been widely studied for Ni films on (011) PMN-PT using magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) magnetometry and magnetic imaging, [7][8][9]11 whereas the electric field effects on the MR have only been studied in detail for magnetite 16,20 and permalloy films 17 on (011) PMN-PT. Additionally, the MR response of permalloy films as a function of the electric field applied to the (011) PZN-PT piezosubstrate has been reported.…”