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Room-temperature electronically controlled magnetism at oxide interfaces

Detailed Technology Description

None

*Abstract

Magnetism plays a central role in information technology, providing the basis for non-volatile storage in hard disk drives. Magnetic domains, which store the bits of information, are controlled with magnetic fields. The field of "spintronics" aims to use electronics (voltages, currents) and electron spin to process information. However, it has been difficult to find suitable materials, despite nearly two decades of active searching.We have identified a new phase of an oxide heterostructure composed of two insulating oxides. This phase exhibits a novel ferromagnetic phase which is electrically controllable and is stable at room temperature. The existence of this novel phase--unique as far as we know among all classes of materials explored so far--opens many new vistas for technological exploitation. We observe the effects of electrical control through magnetic force microscopy (MFM). The introduction of electrons to the interface leads to a decrease in the magnetic contrast, which implies an antiferromagnetic alignment between the carriers that are introduced and the magnetic moments. This antiferromagnetic coupling is expected to lead to a wide class of magnetically controllable devices, such as spin-torque transfer, spin-polarized electron transport, electrically controlled spin-wave propagation and detection, large magnetoresistance effects, and spin-transistor behavior. All of these effects are potentially useful information technologies. In addition, we have demonstrated that very small domain structures can form in this system, allowing for high density storage as well as electrical readout.ApplicationsData StoragePatent StatusIn Prosecution

*Principal Investigator

Name: Feng Bi

Department: Graduate Studies-Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

Name: Patrick Irvin

Department: Physics & Astronomy

Name: Jeremy Levy, Professor

Department: Distinguished Faculty-Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

Country/Region

USA