Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Electric-field-induced generation and reversal of ferromagnetic moment in ferrites

Nature Physics volume 8, pages 838–844 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

The prospect of controlling the magnetization (M) of a material solely with an external electric field (E) could enable the development of low-power spintronics. Although there has been some success towards this end, most approaches involve controlling interactions at the interface between two different materials rather than switching of a single bulk phase. Here we report the ability to exert complete control over the generation and reversal of the bulk spontaneous M of the single-component multiferroics RFeO3 (R = Dy0.70Tb0.30, Dy0.75Gd0.25) with an E alone. We achieve this by controlling the anisotropic character of rare-earth magnetism and exploiting the competition between different magnetoelectric phases. We also show that whether M is reversed or retained on the E-induced polarization reversal depends on the E modulation speed. This is ascribed to the different dynamical characteristics of ferroelectric and multiferroic domain walls governed by the reversal dynamics of rare-earth moments and iron spins, respectively.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Schematic of E-control of ferromagnetic moment, and magnetoelectric phase diagram in RFeO3 (R = Dy0.75Gd0.25, Dy0.70Tb0.30).
Figure 2: E-control of ferromagnetic moment through slow and fast E-sweeping in Dy0.70Tb0.30FeO3.
Figure 3: Schematic of E-control of ferromagnetic moment and composite domain walls in RFeO3 (R = Dy0.75Gd0.25, Dy0.70Tb0.30).
Figure 4: Dynamical nature of the E-induced reversal of spontaneous M in Dy0.70Tb0.30FeO3.
Figure 5: Schematic of the crossover behaviour in the P-reversal mechanism as a function of E-sweeping speed.
Figure 6: E-control of ferromagnetic moment through slow and fast E-sweeping in Dy0.75Gd0.25FeO3.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Katine, J. A., Albert, F. J., Buhrman, R. A., Myers, E. B. & Ralph, D. C. Current-driven magnetization reversal and spin-wave excitations in Co/Cu/Co Pillars. Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 3149–3152 (2000).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Chappert, C., Fert, A. & Dau, F. N. V. The emergence of spin electronics in data storage. Nature Mater. 6, 813–823 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Fiebig, M. Revival of the magnetoelectric effect. J. Phys. D 38, R123–R152 (2005).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Cheong, S-W. & Mostovoy, M. Multiferroics: A magnetic twist for ferroelectricity. Nature Mater. 6, 13–20 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ramesh, R. & Spaldin, N. A. Multiferroics: Progress and prospects in thin films. Nature Mater. 6, 21–29 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Tokura, Y. Multiferroics-toward strong coupling between magnetism and polarization in a solid. J. Magn. Magn. Matter 310, 1145–1150 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Kleemann, W. Switching magnetism with electric fields. Physics 2, 105 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Tokura, Y. & Seki, S. Multiferroics with spiral spin orders. Adv. Mater. 22, 1554–1565 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Kita, E., Tasaki, A. & Siratori, K. Application of SQUID magnetometer to the measurement of magnetoelectric effect in Cr2O3 . Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 18, 1361–1366 (1979).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Ohno, H. et al. Electric-field control of ferromagnetism. Nature 408, 944–946 (2000).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Yamada, Y. et al. Electrically induced ferromagnetism at room temperature in cobalt-doped titanium dioxide. Science 332, 1065–1067 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Chiba, D. et al. Magnetization vector manipulation by electric fields. Nature 455, 515–518 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Weisheit, M. et al. Electric field-induced modification of magnetism in thin-film ferromagnets. Science 19, 349–351 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Wang, Y., Hu, J., Lin, Y. & Nan, C-W. Multiferroic magnetoelectric composite nanostructures. NPG Asia Mater. 2, 61–68 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Sahoo, S. et al. Ferroelectric control of magnetism in BaTiO3/Fe heterostructures via interface strain coupling. Phys. Rev. B 76, 092108 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Geprägs, S., Brandlmaier, A., Opel, M., Gross, R. & Goennenwein, S. T. B. Electric field controlled manipulation of the magnetization in Ni/BaTiO3 hybrid structures. Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 142509 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Chen, X., Hochstrat, A., Borisov, P. & Kleemann, W. Magnetoelectric exchange bias systems in spintronics. Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 202508 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. He, X. et al. Robust isothermal electric control of exchange bias at room temperature. Nature Mater. 9, 579–585 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Chu, Y-H. et al. Electric-field control of local ferromagnetism using a magnetoelectric multiferroic. Nature Mater. 7, 478–482 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Lebeugle, D., Mougin, A., Viret, M., Colson, D. & Ranno, D. Electric field switching of the magnetic anisotropy of a ferromagnetic layer exchange coupled to the multiferroic compound BiFeO3 . Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 257601 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Heron, J. T. et al. Electric-field-induced magnetization reversal in a ferromagnet–multiferroic heterostructure. Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 217202 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Ascher, E., Rieder, H., Schmid, H. & Stössel, H. Some properties of ferromagnetoelectric nickel–iodine boracite, Ni3B7O13I. J. Appl. Phys. 37, 1404–1405 (1966).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Murakawa, H., Onose, Y., Miyahara, S., Furukawa, N. & Tokura, Y. Ferroelectricity induced by spin-dependent metal-ligand hybridization in Ba2CoGe2O7 . Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 137202 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Saito, M., Ishikawa, K., Konno, S., Taniguchi, K. & Arima, T. Periodic rotation of magnetization in a non-centrosymmetric soft magnet induced by an electric field. Nature Mater. 8, 634–638 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Lottermoser, T. et al. Magnetic phase control by an electric field. Nature 430, 541–544 (2004).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Choi, Y. J., Zhang, C. L., Lee, N. & Cheong, S-W. Cross-control of magnetization and polarization by electric and magnetic fields with competing multiferroic and weak-ferromagnetic phases. Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 097201 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Chun, S. H. et al. Electric field control of nonvolatile four-state magnetization at room temperature. Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 177201 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Logginov, A. S., Meshkov, G. A., Nikolaev, A. V. & Pyatakov, A. P. Magnetoelectric control of domain walls in a ferrite garnet film. JETP Lett. 86, 115–118 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Logginov, A. S. et al. Room temperature magnetoelectric control of micromagnetic structure in iron garnet films. Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 182510 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. Dzyaloshinskii, I. A thermodynamic theory of weak ferromagnetism of antiferromagnetics. J. Phys. Chem. Solids 4, 241–255 (1958).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. Moriya, T. Anisotropic superexchange interaction and weak ferromagnetism. Phys. Rev. 120, 91–98 (1960).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. Fennie, C. J. Ferroelectrically induced weak ferromagnetism by design. Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 167203 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  33. Benedek, N. A. & Fennie, C. J. Hybrid improper ferroelectricity: A mechanism for controllable polarization–magnetization coupling. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 107204 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  34. Yamaguchi, T. & Tsushima, K. Magnetic symmetry of rare-earth orthochromites and orthoferrites. Phys. Rev. B 8, 5187–5198 (1973).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  35. Zvezdin, A. K. & Mukhin, A. A. Magnetoelectric interactions and phase transitions in a new class of multiferroics with improper electric polarization. JETP Lett. 88, 505–510 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  36. Tokunaga, Y. et al. Composite domain walls in a multiferroic perovskite ferrite. Nature Mater. 8, 558–562 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  37. Bertaut, E. F. in Magnetism Vol. 3 (eds Rado, G. T. & Suhl, H) 149–209 (Academic, 1963).

    Google Scholar 

  38. Tokunaga, Y., Iguchi, S., Arima, T. & Tokura, Y. Magnetic-field-induced ferroelectric state in DyFeO3 . Phys. Rev. Lett 101, 097205 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  39. Bertaut, E. F., Chappert, J., Mareschal, J., Rebouillat, J. P. & Sivardière, J. Structures magnetiques de TbFeO3 . Solid. State Commun. 5, 293–298 (1967).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  40. Bourée, J. E. & Hammann, J. Mise en évidence expérimentale des effects de forme dans l’orthoferrite de terbium. J. Phys. 36, 391–397 (1975).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank N. Furukawa, S. Miyahara, H. Sakai and D. Okuyama for fruitful discussions. This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the MEXT, Japan and Funding Program for World Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology (FIRST) on ‘Quantum Science on Strong Correlation’ from JSPS.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cross-Correlated Materials Research Group (CMRG) and Correlated Electron Research Group (CERG), RIKEN Advanced Science Institute, Wako 351-0198, Japan

    Yusuke Tokunaga, Yasujiro Taguchi & Yoshinori Tokura

  2. Multiferroic Project, ERATO, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan

    Yusuke Tokunaga & Yoshinori Tokura

  3. Department of Advanced Materials Science, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8561, Japan

    Taka-hisa Arima

  4. RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Hyogo 679-5148, Japan

    Taka-hisa Arima

  5. Department of Applied Physics, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan

    Yoshinori Tokura

Authors
  1. Yusuke Tokunaga
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yasujiro Taguchi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Taka-hisa Arima
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yoshinori Tokura
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

The experiments were performed by Y. Tokunaga. The results were discussed and interpreted by Y. Tokunaga, Y. Taguchi, T-h.A. and Y. Tokura.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yusuke Tokunaga.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tokunaga, Y., Taguchi, Y., Arima, Th. et al. Electric-field-induced generation and reversal of ferromagnetic moment in ferrites. Nature Phys 8, 838–844 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2405

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2405

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing