Large magnetoelectric coupling in multiferroic oxide heterostructures assembled via epitaxial lift-off

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16942-x

Authors: D. Pesquera (University of Cambridge) , E. Khestanova (ITMO University) , M. Ghidini (University of Cambridge; University of Parma; Diamond Light Source) , S. Zhang (University of Cambridge; National University of Defense Technology) , A. P. Rooney (University of Manchester) , F. Maccherozzi (Diamond Light Source) , P. Riego (University of Cambridge; CIC nanoGUNE; University of the Basque Country) , S. Farokhipoor (University of Groningen) , J. Kim (University of Cambridge) , X. Moya (University of Cambridge) , M. E. Vickers (University of Cambridge) , N. A. Stelmashenko (University of Cambridge) , S. J. Haigh (University of Manchester) , S. S. Dhesi (Diamond Light Source) , N. D. Mathur (University of Cambridge)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Nature Communications , VOL 11

State: Published (Approved)
Published: June 2020
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 14745

Abstract: Epitaxial films may be released from growth substrates and transferred to structurally and chemically incompatible substrates, but epitaxial films of transition metal perovskite oxides have not been transferred to electroactive substrates for voltage control of their myriad functional properties. Here we demonstrate good strain transmission at the incoherent interface between a strain-released film of epitaxially grown ferromagnetic La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 and an electroactive substrate of ferroelectric 0.68Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.32PbTiO3 in a different crystallographic orientation. Our strain-mediated magnetoelectric coupling compares well with respect to epitaxial heterostructures, where the epitaxy responsible for strong coupling can degrade film magnetization via strain and dislocations. Moreover, the electrical switching of magnetic anisotropy is repeatable and non-volatile. High-resolution magnetic vector maps reveal that micromagnetic behaviour is governed by electrically controlled strain and cracks in the film. Our demonstration should inspire others to control the physical/chemical properties in strain-released epitaxial oxide films by using electroactive substrates to impart strain via non-epitaxial interfaces.

Journal Keywords: Ferroelectrics and multiferroics; Information storage; Magnetic properties and materials; Surfaces, interfaces and thin films

Diamond Keywords: Ferroelectricity; Ferromagnetism

Subject Areas: Materials, Physics


Instruments: I06-Nanoscience

Added On: 29/06/2020 14:09

Documents:
s41467-020-16942-x.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Surfaces Quantum Materials Hard condensed matter - electronic properties Multiferroics Physics Magnetism Materials Science interfaces and thin films Perovskites Metallurgy

Technical Tags:

Microscopy Spectroscopy Electron Microscopy (EM) PhotoEmmission Electron Microscopy (PEEM) Circular Dichroism (CD) X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD)