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Shear-strain-mediated magnetoelectric effects revealed by imaging

Nature Materials volume 18, pages 840–845 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Large changes in the magnetization of ferromagnetic films can be electrically driven by non-180° ferroelectric domain switching in underlying substrates, but the shear components of the strains that mediate these magnetoelectric effects have not been considered so far. Here we reveal the presence of these shear strains in a polycrystalline film of Ni on a 0.68Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–0.32PbTiO3 substrate in the pseudo-cubic (011)pc orientation. Although vibrating sample magnetometry records giant magnetoelectric effects that are consistent with the hitherto expected 90° rotations of a global magnetic easy axis, high-resolution vector maps of magnetization (constructed from photoemission electron microscopy data, with contrast from X-ray magnetic circular dichroism) reveal that the local magnetization typically rotates through smaller angles of 62–84°. This shortfall with respect to 90° is a consequence of the shear strain associated with ferroelectric domain switching. The non-orthogonality represents both a challenge and an opportunity for the development and miniaturization of magnetoelectric devices.

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Fig. 1: Cubic representation of the pseudocubic PMN–PT (011)pc unit cell.
Fig. 2: Macroscopic ME effects in Ni//PMN–PT (011)pc.
Fig. 3: Global and local magnetization for ME switching in Ni//PMN–PT (011)pc.
Fig. 4: Changes in the local magnetization for ME switching in Ni//PMN–PT (011)pc.
Fig. 5: Local magnetization and changes of local magnetization for ME switching in Ni//PMN–PT (011)pc.
Fig. 6: Predicted local ME switching for Ni//PMN–PT (011)pc.

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All relevant data are available from all corresponding authors on request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by Isaac Newton Trust grants 10.26(u) and 11.35(u), UK EPSRC grant EP/G031509/1, the Royal Society (X.M.) and a start-up fund from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (J.-M.H.). D.P. acknowledges funding from the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca – Generalitat de Catalunya (grant 2014 BP-A 00079). We thank Diamond Light Source for time on beamline I06 (proposal SI-8876), and we thank S. Zhang for discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science, University of Parma, Parma, Italy

    M. Ghidini

  2. Diamond Light Source, Didcot, UK

    M. Ghidini, F. Maccherozzi & S. S. Dhesi

  3. Department of Materials Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    M. Ghidini, X. Moya, L. C. Phillips, W. Yan, D. Pesquera & N. D. Mathur

  4. Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    R. Mansell, C. H. W. Barnes & R. P. Cowburn

  5. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    J.-M. Hu

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Contributions

M.G. initiated the study. M.G. and N.D.M. led the project with S.S.D. R.M., R.P.C. and C.H.W.B. were responsible for the growth of thin-film Ni. The collection and preliminary analysis of PEEM data were performed by M.G., with assistance from X.M., L.C.P and W.Y. All other experimental work was performed by M.G. F.M. and S.S.D. were responsible for constructing PEEM vector maps, and the subsequent pixel-by-pixel analysis. D.P. performed image and data processing. N.D.M. proposed the pixel-by-pixel analysis of PEEM vector maps that led to the key finding of sub-90° magnetization rotation. J.-M.H. identified and calculated the shear strain that accompanies ferroelectric domain switching in PMN–PT. M.G. identified the resulting principal axes of strain and hence magnetic easy axes. M.G. and N.D.M. interpreted the observed ME effects. N.D.M. wrote the manuscript with M.G., using substantive feedback from S.S.D. and J.-M.H. and additional feedback from R.M.

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Correspondence to M. Ghidini, S. S. Dhesi or N. D. Mathur.

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Supplementary Notes 1–6, Figs. 1–7 and Table 1.

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Ghidini, M., Mansell, R., Maccherozzi, F. et al. Shear-strain-mediated magnetoelectric effects revealed by imaging. Nat. Mater. 18, 840–845 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-019-0374-8

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