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Updated: Oct 13, 2025

Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals
Published on: August 15, 2018
Low-voltage magnetoelectric coupling in membrane heterostructures
Shane Lindemann1, Julian Irwin2, Gi-Yeop Kim3
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
Abstract:
Strain-mediated magnetoelectric (ME) coupling in ferroelectric (FE)/ferromagnetic (FM) heterostructures offers a unique opportunity for both fundamental scientific research and low-power multifunctional devices. Relaxor-FEs, such as (1 − x)Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-(x)PbTiO3 (PMN-xPT), are ideal FE layer candidates because of their giant piezoelectricity. However, thin films of PMN-PT suffer from substrate clamping, which substantially reduces piezoelectric in-plane strains. Here, we demonstrate low-voltage ME coupling in an all-thin-film heterostructure that uses the anisotropic strains induced by the (011) orientation of PMN-PT. We completely remove PMN-PT films from their substrate and couple with FM Ni overlayers to create membrane PMN-PT/Ni heterostructures showing 90° Ni magnetization rotation with 3 V PMN-PT bias, much less than the bulk PMN-PT ~100-V requirement. Scanning transmission electron microscopy and phase-field simulations clarify the membrane response. These results provide a crucial step toward understanding the microstructural behavior of PMN-PT thin films for use in piezo-driven ME heterostructures.
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