Electrical tuning of magnetism in Fe3O4/PZN–PT multiferroic heterostructures derived by reactive magnetron sputtering

Abstract

Strong magnetoelectric (ME) coupling was demonstrated in Fe3O4/PZN–PT (lead zinc niobate–lead titanate) multiferroic heterostructures obtained through a sputter deposition process. The dependence of the magnetic anisotropy on the electric field (E-field) is theoretically predicted and experimentally observed by ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy. A large tunable in-plane magnetic anisotropy of up to 600 Oe, and tunable out-of-plane anisotropy of up to 400 Oe were observed in the Fe3O4/PZN–PT multiferroic heterostructures, corresponding to a large ME coefficient of 100 Oe cm/kV in plane and 68 Oe cm/kV out of plane, which match well with predicted results. In addition, the electric field manipulation of magnetic anisotropy is also demonstrated by the electric fields dependence of magnetic hysteresis loops, showing a large squareness ratio change of 44%. These Fe3O4/PZN–PT multiferroic heterostructures exhibiting large E-field tunable magnetic properties provide great opportunities for novel electrostatically tunable multiferroic devices.