Tailoring magnetic anisotropy at the ferromagnetic/ferroelectric interface

It is predicted that magnetic anisotropy of a thin magnetic film may be affected by the polarization of a ferroelectric material. Using a Fe∕BaTiO3 bilayer as a representative model and performing first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that a reversal of the electric polarization of BaTiO3 produces a sizable change in magnetic anisotropy energy of Fe films. Tailoring the magnetic anisotropy of a nanomagnet by an adjacent ferroelectric material may yield entirely new device concepts, such as electric-field controlled magnetic data storage. We thank Ruqian Wu for fruitful discussions. This work was supported by the NSF and the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative through the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at the University of Nebraska, the Nebraska Research Initiative, the Office of Naval Research, and the NSFC (Grant No. 50771072). Computations were performed at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory