Dielectric Screening and Electric Field Control of Ferromagnetism at the CaMnO$_3$/CaRuO$_3$ Interface

TL;DR

This study demonstrates how electric fields can modulate interfacial ferromagnetism in CaMnO$_3$/CaRuO$_3$ through dielectric screening and carrier density changes, with potential spintronics applications.

Contribution

It provides a quantitative analysis of electric field control of interfacial magnetism using density-functional calculations, highlighting the role of dielectric screening and carrier modulation.

Findings

Electric field induces polarization charges at the interface.

Carrier density changes enhance ferromagnetism via double exchange.

The antiferromagnetic state remains unchanged away from the interface.

Abstract

Control of magnetism by an applied electric field is a desirable technique for the functionalization of magnetic materials. Motivated by recent experiments, we study the electric field control of the interfacial magnetism of CaRuO$_3$/CaMnO$_3$ (CRO/CMO) (001), a prototype interface between a non-magnetic metal and an antiferromagnetic insulator. Even without the electric field, the interfacial CMO layer acquires a ferromagnetic moment due to a spin-canted state, caused by the Anderson-Hasegawa double exchange (DEX) between the Mn moments and the leaked electrons from the CRO side. An electric field would alter the carrier density at the interface, leading to the possibility of controlling the magnetism, since DEX is sensitive to the carrier density. We study this effect quantitatively usingdensity-functional calculations in the slab geometry. We find a text-book like dielectric screening of the electric field, which introduces polarization charges at the interfaces and the surfaces. The extra charge at the interface enhances the ferromagnetism via the DEX interaction, while away from the interface the original AFM state of the Mn layers remains unchanged. The effect could have potential application in spintronics devices.