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Electrically Assisted Magnetic Recording in Multiferroic Nanostructures
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Investigators: F. Zavaliche, T. Zhao, H. Zheng, F. Straub, M. P. Cruz, P.-L. Yang, D. Hao, and R. Ramesh
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As the bit size in magnetic data storage approaches the
superparamagnetic limit, increasing the magnetic anisotropy
is needed to ensure bit stability, which in turn requires an
undesirable strong switching field. In this work,
we propose a way to enable low-field magnetic
recording in high-anisotropy media with an electric field. Such
a typical media is a multiferroic nanostructure with matrix-
pillar morphology, which exhibits strong magnetoelectric
coupling to enable the electrically assisted magnetic
recording (EAMR). From the basic science standpoint, our
data proves that the electric-field-induced magnetization
reversal process can be made controllable in multiferroic
nanostructures with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy by
applying a weak magnetic field.
We demonstrate the room-temperature control of magnetization reversal with an electric field in an epitaxial nanostructure consisting of
ferrimagnetic CoFe2O4 nanopillars embedded in a ferroelectric BiFeO3 matrix. This was achieved by combining a weak, uniform magnetic field with the switching
electric field to selectively switch pillars with only one magnetic configuration. On the basis of these experimental results, we propose to use an electric field to assist magnetic recording in multiferroic systems with high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. |
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Fig. 1: Morphology and magnetization switching in the (BiFeO3)0.65-(CoFe2O4)0.35 nanostructure. (a) Surface topography as seen by AFM. (b) Out-of-plane (red symbols) and in-plane (black symbols) magnetization loops. (c,d) MFM scans after magnetization in down and up 20 kOe fields, respectively. (e,f) MFM scans taken in the same areas as in (c) and (d), respectively, after electrical poling at -16 V. The bars are 1 µm. |
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