Nonvolatile Electric Field Control of Thermal Magnons in the Absence of an Applied Magnetic Field

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates non-volatile, electric-field-controlled modulation of thermal magnon currents in BiFeO3 without external magnetic fields, advancing magnon-based spintronic device development.

Contribution

It introduces a method for electric-field control of magnon transport in multiferroic BiFeO3, eliminating the need for magnetic fields, which is novel in spin transport modulation.

Findings

Electric-field control of magnon current demonstrated

Hysteretic, non-volatile behavior observed

Potential for electric-field-only spintronic devices

Abstract

Spin transport through magnetic insulators has been demonstrated in a variety of materials and is an emerging pathway for next-generation spin-based computing. To modulate spin transport in these systems, one typically applies a sufficiently strong magnetic field to allow for deterministic control of magnetic order. Here, we make use of the well-known multiferroic magnetoelectric, BiFeO3, to demonstrate non-volatile, hysteretic, electric-field control of thermally excited magnon current in the absence of an applied magnetic field. These findings are an important step toward magnon-based devices, where electric-field-only control is highly desirable.