Electrical Writing of Magnetic Domain Patterns in Ferromagnetic/Ferroelectric Heterostructures

Coupling between ferromagnetic and ferroelectric domains and electrical writing of magnetic domain patterns are investigated in artificial heterostructures consisting of a ferroelectric BaTiO₃ substrate with a well-defined ferroelastic domain structure and a thin CoFe film. Polarization microscopy analysis and micromagnetic simulations show that ferroelastic stripe patterns are fully transferrable to neighboring magnetic films. The one-to-one domain correlations are the result of a strain-mediated coupling mechanism between the in-plane ferroelectric polarization of the BaTiO₃ substrate and the magnetic anisotropy of the CoFe film. The ferromagnetic and ferroelectric domains remain coupled in an applied electric field and this enables the writing of new magnetic domain patterns by electrical means.