Magneto-ionic suppression of magnetic vortices

Magneto-ionics refers to the non-volatile control of the magnetic properties of materials by voltage-driven ion migration. This phenomenon constitutes one of the most important magnetoelectric mechanisms and, so far, it has been employed to modify the magnetic easy axis of thin films, their coercivi...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Chen, Yu, Nicolenco, Aliona, Molet, Pau, Mihi, Agustín, Pellicer, Eva, Sort, Jordi
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/251773
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/251773
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Magneto-ionics
Vortex
Voltage control of magnetism
Magnetoelectric
Descripción
Sumario:Magneto-ionics refers to the non-volatile control of the magnetic properties of materials by voltage-driven ion migration. This phenomenon constitutes one of the most important magnetoelectric mechanisms and, so far, it has been employed to modify the magnetic easy axis of thin films, their coercivity or their net magnetization. Herein, a novel magneto-ionic effect is demonstrated: the transition from vortex to coherent rotation states, caused by voltage-induced ion motion, in arrays of patterned nanopillars. Electrolyte-gated Co/GdOx bilayered nanopillars are chosen as a model system. Electron microscopy observations reveal that, upon voltage application, oxygen ions diffuse from GdOx to Co, resulting in the development of paramagnetic oxide phases (CoOx) along sporadic diffusion channels. This breaks up the initial magnetization configuration of the ferromagnetic pillars (i.e., vortex states) and leads to the formation of small ferromagnetic nanoclusters, embedded in the CoOx matrix, which behave as single-domain nanoparticles. As a result, a decrease of the net magnetic moment is observed, together with a drastic change in the shape of the hysteresis loop. Micromagnetic simulations are used to interpret these findings. These results pave the way towards a new potential application of magnetoelectricity: the magneto-ionic control of magnetic vortex states.