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Updated: May 30, 2026

Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals
Published on: August 15, 2018
Ferroelectric control of magnetic anisotropy
A Mardana1, Stephen Ducharme, S Adenwalla
1Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0299, United States.
Abstract:
We demonstrate unambiguous evidence of the electric field control of magnetic anisotropy in a wedge-shaped Co film of varying thickness. A copolymer ferroelectric of 70% vinylidene fluoride with 30% trifluoroethylene, P(VDF-TrFE) overlays the Co wedge, providing a large switchable electric field. As the ferroelectric polarization is switched from up to down, the magnetic anisotropy of the Co films changes by as much as 50%. At the lowest Co thickness the magnetic anisotropy switches from out-of-plane to in-plane as the ferroelectric polarization changes from up to down, enabling us to rotate the magnetization through a large angle at constant magnetic field merely by switching the ferroelectric polarization. The large mismatch in the stiffness coefficients between the polymer ferroelectric and metallic ferromagnet excludes typical magnetoelectric strain coupling; rather, the magnetic changes arise from the large electric field at the ferroelectric/ferromagnet interface.
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