Reversible Electric-Field Driven Magnetic Domain Wall Motion

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel, reversible method for moving magnetic domain walls using only electric fields in multiferroic heterostructures, avoiding magnetic fields or currents, with potential applications in magnetic devices.

Contribution

It introduces a new electric-field driven magnetic domain wall motion mechanism based on elastic coupling in multiferroic heterostructures, which is fully reversible and controllable.

Findings

Magnetic domain walls can be moved solely by electric fields.

The velocity of domain walls varies exponentially with electric field strength.

The method is demonstrated in Fe/BaTiO3 heterostructures.

Abstract

Control of magnetic domain wall motion by electric fields has recently attracted scientific attention because of its potential for magnetic logic and memory devices. Here, we report on a new driving mechanism that allows for magnetic domain wall motion in an applied electric field without the concurrent use of a magnetic field or spin-polarized electric current. The mechanism is based on elastic coupling between magnetic and ferroelectric domain walls in multiferroic heterostructures. Pure electric-field driven magnetic domain wall motion is demonstrated for epitaxial Fe films on BaTiO$_3$ with in-plane and out-of-plane polarized domains. In this system, magnetic domain wall motion is fully reversible and the velocity of the walls varies exponentially as a function of out-of-plane electric field strength.