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Topology turns the crank on a magnetoelectric switch

A mechanism resembling a crankshaft switches the electric polarization of a material in response to changes in an applied magnetic field. The resulting four-state switch is linked to the material’s intriguing topology.
  1. Wei Ren

    1. Wei Ren is in the Physics Department, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China, and Zhejiang Laboratory, Hangzhou, China.

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  2. Laurent Bellaiche

    1. Laurent Bellaiche is in the Physics Department and Institute for Nanoscience and Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA.

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Electricity and magnetism are inextricably linked by the physics that laid the foundation for the rapid industrial progress of the late nineteenth century. Studies at the level of atoms and electrons have revealed that such coupling can occur even in a single material, known as a multiferroic material, in which electric and magnetic ordering can coexist. Such materials might one day be used to build a computer that combines electronic logic with magnetic memory. But this technology requires efficient switching — electric control of the material’s magnetization or magnetic control of its electric polarization — and that is difficult to achieve. Writing in Nature, Ponet et al.1 report a magnetic-field-induced mechanism for switching electric polarization that is driven by the topology of the material.

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Nature 607, 34-36 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01786-w

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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