Electrical voltage manipulation of ferromagnetic microdomain structures in a ferromagnetic/ferroelectric hybrid structure

We report on electrical bias voltage manipulation of the magnetic domain structures of patterned ferromagnetic Fe dots on a ferroelectric BaTiO(3) underlayer using a scanning probe microscope technique. Piezoresponse force microscopy is used to apply local electric field on the Fe dots/BaTiO(3) hybrid structure and to map the ferroelectric domain structures simultaneously. Magnetic force microscope observation also demonstrates that the magnetic domain structures of the Fe dots significantly change with the application of voltage at room temperature through the coupling between piezoelectric and magnetostrictive effects, indicating that the Fe dots/BaTiO(3) hybrid structure provides a promising basis for controlling micromagnetic domain structures using electric voltage.