Giant Tunneling Electroresistance Effect Driven by an Electrically Controlled Spin Valve at a Complex Oxide Interface

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a giant tunneling electroresistance effect at a complex oxide interface, driven by an electrically controlled spin valve that filters spin-dependent current, resulting in significant conductance change.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism using a ferroelectric and magnetic oxide interface to achieve large resistive switching via a spin-valve effect.

Findings

Over an order of magnitude change in conductance observed.

A few magnetic monolayers act as an atomic-scale spin valve.

The effect is driven by ferroelectric polarization reversal.

Abstract

A giant tunneling electroresistance effect may be achieved in a ferroelectric tunnel junction by exploiting the magnetoelectric effect at the interface between a ferroelectric barrier and magnetic La1-xSrxMnO3 electrode. Using first-principles density functional theory we demonstrate that a few magnetic monolayers of La1-xSrxMnO3 near the interface act, in response to ferroelectric polarization reversal, as an atomic scale spin-valve by filtering spin-dependent current. This effect produces more than an order of magnitude change in conductance, and thus constitutes a giant resistive switching effect.