Ferroelectric-domain-controlled magnetic anisotropy in Co40Fe40B20/YMnO3 multiferroic heterostructure

We report on the magnetic properties of Co40Fe40B20/YMnO3 multiferroic heterostructures in which Co40Fe40B20 shows an in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy with the magnetic easy axis along the ferroelectric polarization direction of YMnO3. The coercive field (H-c) of Co40Fe40B20 shows an interesting non-monotonic change from the easy axis to hard axis with a maximum at a certain angle. It was demonstrated that the magnetic property of Co40Fe40B20 was dominated by the FE domain induced strain and the angular dependence of H-c can be understood by the two phase model. This work is helpful for understanding the coupling between ferromagnetic and ferroelectric materials. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4795518]