Electric Field Control of Nonvolatile Four-State Magnetization at Room Temperature

Abstract

We find the realization of large converse magnetoelectric (ME) effects at room temperature in a magnetoelectric hexaferrite ${\mathrm{Ba}}_{0.52}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{2.48}{\mathrm{Co}}_{2}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{24}{\mathrm{O}}_{41}$ single crystal, in which rapid change of electric polarization in low magnetic fields (about 5 mT) is coined to a large ME susceptibility of $3200\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{ps}/\mathrm{m}$. The modulation of magnetization then reaches up to $0.62{\ensuremath{\mu}}_{B}/\mathrm{f}.\mathrm{u}$. in an electric field of $1.14\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MV}/\mathrm{m}$. We find further that four ME states induced by different ME poling exhibit unique, nonvolatile magnetization versus electric field curves, which can be approximately described by an effective free energy with a distinct set of ME coefficients.