Department of Applied Science, College of William &Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23187, USA.
Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
Sci Rep. 2017 Jan 4;7:40048. doi: 10.1038/srep40048.
Electrical manipulation of magnetism presents a promising way towards using the spin degree of freedom in very fast, low-power electronic devices. Though there has been tremendous progress in electrical control of magnetic properties using ferromagnetic (FM) nanostructures, an opportunity of manipulating antiferromagnetic (AFM) states should offer another route for creating a broad range of new enabling technologies. Here we selectively probe the interface magnetization of SrTiO/LaCaMnO/LaSrMnO heterojunctions and discover a new spin-polarized current injection induced interface magnetoelectric (ME) effect. The accumulation of majority spins at the interface causes a sudden, reversible transition of the spin alignment of interfacial Mn ions from AFM to FM exchange-coupled, while the injection of minority electron spins alters the interface magnetization from C-type to A-type AFM state. In contrast, the bulk magnetization remains unchanged. We attribute the current-induced interface ME effect to modulations of the strong double-exchange interaction between conducting electron spins and local magnetic moments. The effect is robust and may serve as a viable route for electronic and spintronic applications.
电操控磁性为利用自旋自由度在非常快速、低功耗的电子设备中提供了一种很有前景的方法。尽管使用铁磁（FM）纳米结构在电控制磁性方面已经取得了巨大进展，但操控反铁磁（AFM）状态的机会应该为创造一系列新的使能技术提供另一种途径。在这里，我们选择性地探测了 SrTiO/LaCaMnO/LaSrMnO 异质结的界面磁化，并发现了一种新的自旋极化电流注入诱导的界面磁电（ME）效应。多数自旋在界面上的积累导致界面 Mn 离子的自旋排列从 AFM 到 FM 交换耦合的突然、可逆转变，而少数电子自旋的注入则将界面磁化从 C 型 AFM 状态改变为 A 型 AFM 状态。相比之下，体磁化保持不变。我们将电流诱导的界面 ME 效应归因于导电电子自旋和局域磁矩之间的强双交换相互作用的调制。该效应具有鲁棒性，可能成为电子和自旋电子应用的可行途径。
