Coaction of electric field induced strain and polarization effects in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3/PMN-PT structures

The coaction of the electric field induced strain and polarization effect on magnetic and electrical properties in field-effect structures, composing of La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 (LCMO) films and Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) crystal, have been studied. The strain state of the films can continuously be tuned by application of bias electric field. The resistance variation in LCMO film is about -4.34% and +3.48% when a negative (-8 kV/cm) and positive (+8 kV/cm) bias field is applied, respectively, at 50 K. With increasing temperature, the field-dependent shuttlelike loop of relative resistance changes to butterflylike hysteresis loop under the coaction of field induced strain and polarization effect. Moreover, a sharp, stable, and reversal magnetization controlling effect caused by electric field has also been found in the structure. The magnetization decreases as much as -8.64% when a positive field 9.6 kV/cm is applied at 10 K. The data clearly show that the electric field induced strain effect is dominant for the magnetization, while the polarization is dominant for the effect on electrical transport properties when the LCMO is in ferromagnetic metal state. These results reveal that the electric field can tune the lattice distortion and carry distribution artificially as well as magnetic and electrical properties by using manganite/PMN-PT structure.