Enhancement of charge-mediated magnetoelectric coupling in Fe ₃ O ₄ /SrTiO ₃ /Ba _0.6 Sr _0.4 TiO ₃ heterostructure

Abstract

Abstract The in-plane magnetic hysteresis loops of Fe 3 O 4 /SrTiO 3 (STO) and Fe 3 O 4 /STO/Ba 0.6 Sr 0.4 TiO 3 (BSTO) heterostructures have been investigated at 200 K under various electric fields. The bottom BSTO layer of the STO/BSTO bilayer is used to improve the dielectric properties of the top STO layer. The polarization of the STO/BSTO bilayer is ∼78% larger than that of the STO layer at room temperature due to the improvement of surface topography and the contribution of electrostatic interlayer coupling. A significant enlargement (∼70%) in the magnetoelectric response of Fe 3 O 4 /STO/BSTO heterostructure has been achieved at 200 K and 300 kV cm −1 after introducing the BSTO layer, since the STO/BSTO bilayer with larger dielectric constant supplies more polarization charges at its interface to the Fe 3 O 4 layer than the STO layer. It indicates that the dielectric bilayer improves the polarization and thus benefits the magnetoelectric coupling in the multiferroic heterostructure.