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Advances in magnetoelectric multiferroics

Nature Materials volume 18, pages 203–212 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

The manipulation of magnetic properties by an electric field in magnetoelectric multiferroic materials has driven significant research activity, with the goal of realizing their transformative technological potential. Here, we review progress in the fundamental understanding and design of new multiferroic materials, advances in characterization and modelling tools to describe them, and the exploration of devices and applications. Focusing on the translation of the many scientific breakthroughs into technological innovations, we identify the key open questions in the field where targeted research activities could have maximum impact in transitioning scientific discoveries into real applications.

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Fig. 1: The multiferroic family tree.
Fig. 2: Multiferroic composite architectures.
Fig. 3: The Bi2O3–Fe2O3 phase diagram.
Fig. 4: Ferroelectric domain walls in multiferroics exhibit a wide variety of physical phenomena and are being explored as active elements for future applications.
Fig. 5: New fundamental building blocks for multiferroicity.
Fig. 6: New magnetoelectric multiferroic devices.

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Acknowledgements

N.A.S. acknowledges financial support from ETH Zürich, and the Roessler Prize of ETH Zürich, which supported her stay in Berkeley during the preparation of this manuscript. R.R. acknowledges the long-term support of the Quantum Materials programme funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, which laid the foundation for the key elements of the work on multiferroics as well as the Purnendu Chatterjee chair. R.R. also gratefully acknowledges support from the DARPA-Semiconductor Research Corporation JUMP programme through the ASCENT centre as well as funding from the Intel Corporation. Both authors are immensely grateful to collaborators and colleagues around the world, as well as former and current students and postdocs, all of whom have contributed tremendously to this field and provided the material for this Review.

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  1. Materials Theory, ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland

    N. A. Spaldin

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    R. Ramesh

  3. Department of Physics, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    R. Ramesh

  4. Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

    R. Ramesh

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Spaldin, N.A., Ramesh, R. Advances in magnetoelectric multiferroics. Nature Mater 18, 203–212 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0275-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0275-2

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