Giant magnetoelectric effect via strain-induced spin reorientation transitions in ferromagnetic films

It is shown theoretically that a giant magnetoelectric susceptibility exceeding 10(-6) s/m may be achieved in the ferromagnetic/ferroelectric epitaxial systems via the magnetization rotation induced by an electric field applied to the substrate. The predicted magnetoelectric anomaly results from the strain-driven spin reorientation transitions in ferromagnetic films, which take place at experimentally accessible misfit strains in CoFe2O4 and Ni films.