Synthesis and room temperature four-state memory prototype of Sr3Co2Fe24O41 multiferroics

Multiferroics exhibit both ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism. The combination of ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism in single phase offers the ability to obtain four physical polarization states, i.e., two electric polarization combined with two magnetic polarization states, achieving four-state memory devices. The four-state memory devices can exponentially increase data storage capacity. In this letter, we synthesized single phase Sr3Co2Fe24O41, which exhibits ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism, and magnetoelectric coupling effect at room temperature. The as-prepared Sr3Co2Fe24O41 was used as a four-state memory prototype. The information was written by electric and magnetic fields, and read out by magnetoelectric coefficient (alpha(E)) with the help of a small bias magnetic field. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4753973]