Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 10: Poster I

MA 10.25: Poster

Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 10:45–13:45, Poster A

Magneto-optical investigation of strain induced magnetization switching in ferromagnetic/ferroelectric hybrid structures — •Matthias Brasse^1,2, Andreas Brandlmaier¹, Matthias Opel¹, Georg Woltersdorf³, Rudolf Gross¹, and Sebastian T. B. Goennenwein¹ — ¹Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 85748 Garching — ²Lehrstuhl für Physik funktionaler Schichtsysteme, Physik Department, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Str. 1, 85748 Garching — ³Universität Regensburg, 93040 Regensburg

We report on the investigation of multiferroic hybrid structures, which are promising for the electric field control of the magnetization orientation. The hybrid structures consist of a ferromagnetic thin film evaporated onto a commercially available piezoelectric actuator. Making use of the piezoelectric and the magnetoelastic effect allows to control the magnetization orientation by means of the voltage applied to the piezoelectric actuator.

Spatially resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements were employed to study the magnetization orientation as a function of the applied strain. Using an appropriate measurement sequence, we could demonstrate the switching of the magnetization between two distinct orientations at constant external magnetic field. We also studied local magnetization switching in the hybrid structures. Our results show, that an electric field control of ferromagnetism is possible via the elastic channel both on macroscopic as well as on microscopic scales.

This work was supported by the DFG via Go 944/3.