No Arabic abstract
We investigate the electric field induced resistive switching effect and magnetic field induced fraction enlargement on a polycrystalline sample of a colossal magnetoresistive compound displaying intrinsic phase coexistence. Our data show that the electric effect (presumably related to the presence of inhomogeinities) is present in a broad temperature range(300 to 20 K), being observable even in a mostly homogeneous ferromagnetic state. In the temperature range in which low magnetic field determines the phase coexistence fraction, both effects, though related to different mechanisms, are found to determine multilevel nonvolatile memory capabilities simultaneously.
The inclination of the magnetic domain wall plane in electric field is observed. The simple theoretical model of this phenomenon that takes into account the spin flexoelectricity is proposed. The value of electric polarization of the magnetic domain wall is estimated as 0.3{mu}C/m^2 that agrees well with the results of electric field driven magnetic domain wall motion measurements.
X-ray resonant magnetic scattering studies of rare earth magnetic ordering were performed on perovskite manganites RMnO3 (R = Dy, Gd) in an applied magnetic field. The data reveal that the field-induced three-fold polarization enhancement for H || a (H approx. 20 kOe) observed in DyMnO3 below 6.5 K is due to a re-emergence of the Mn-induced Dy spin order with propagation vector k(Dy) = k(Mn) = 0.385 b*, which accompanies the suppression of the independent Dy magnetic ordering, k(Dy) = 1/2 b*. For GdMnO3, the Mn-induced ordering of Gd spins is used to track the Mn-ordering propagation vector. The data confirm the incommensurate ordering reported previously, with k(Mn) varying from 0.245 to 0.16 b* on cooling from T_N(Mn) down to a transition temperature T. New superstructure reflections which appear below T suggest a propagation vector k(Mn) = 1/4 b* in zero magnetic field, which may coexist with the previously reported A-type ordering of Mn. The Gd spins order with the same propagation vector below 7 K. Within the ordered state of Gd at T = 1.8 K we find a phase boundary for an applied magnetic field H || b, H = 10 kOe, which coincides with the previously reported transition between the ground state paraelectric and the ferroelectric phase of GdMnO3. Our results suggest that the magnetic ordering of Gd in magnetic field may stabilize a cycloidal ordering of Mn that, in turn, produces ferroelectricity.
We present a multifunctional and multistate permanent memory device based on lateral electric field control of a strained surface. Sub-coercive electrical writing of a remnant strain of a PZT substrate imprints stable and rewritable resistance changes on a CoFe overlayer. A proof-of-principle device, with the simplest resistance strain gage design, is shown as a memory cell exhibiting 17-memory states of high reproducibility and reliability for nonvolatile operations. Magnetoresistance of the film also depends on the cell state, and indicates a rewritable change of magnetic properties persisting in the remnant strain of the substrate. This makes it possible to combine strain, magnetic and resistive functionalities in a single memory element, and suggests that sub-coercive stress studies are of interest for straintronics applications.
Neutron diffraction is used to probe the (H,T) phase diagram of magneto-electric (ME) LiNiPO4 for magnetic fields along the c-axis. At zero field the Ni spins order in two antiferromagnetic phases. One has commensurate (C) structures and general ordering vectors (0,0,0), the other one is incommensurate (IC) with ordering vector (0,q,0). At low temperatures the C order collapses above 12 Tesla and adopts an IC structure with modulation vector parallel to (0,q,0). We show that C order is required for the ME effect and establish how electric polarization results from a field-induced reduction of the total magneto-elastic energy.
The metal-insulator transition (MIT) of BaVS3 is suppressed under pressure and above the critical pressure of p~2GPa the metallic phase is stabilized. We present the results of detailed magnetoresistivity measurements carried out at pressures near the critical value, in magnetic fields up to B=12T. We found that slightly below the critical pressure the structural tetramerization -- which drives the MIT -- is combined with the onset of magnetic correlations. If the zero-field transition temperature is suppressed to a sufficiently low value (T_MI<15K), the system can be driven into the metallic state by application of magnetic field. The main effect is not the reduction of T_MI with increasing B, but rather the broadening of the transition due to the applied magnetic field. We tentatively ascribe this phenomenon to the influence on the magnetic structure coupled to the bond-order of the tetramers.