Multiferroic composite thinfilms of ferroelectrics and magnets have attracted ever-increasing interest in most recent years.In this review,magnetoelectric(ME)responses as well as their underlying ME coupling mechanism...Multiferroic composite thinfilms of ferroelectrics and magnets have attracted ever-increasing interest in most recent years.In this review,magnetoelectric(ME)responses as well as their underlying ME coupling mechanisms in such multiferroic composite thinfilms are discussed,oriented by their potential applications in novel ME devices.Among them,the direct ME response,i.e.,magnetic-field control of polarization,can be exploited for micro-sensor applications(sensing magneticfield,electric current,light,etc.),mainly determined by a strain-mediated coupling interaction.The converse ME response,i.e.,electric-field modulation of magnetism,offers great opportunities for new potential devices for spintronics and in data storage applications.A series of prototype ME devices based on both direct and converse ME responses have been presented.The review concludes with a remark on the future possibilities and scientific challenges in thisfield.展开更多
基金This work was supported by the NSF of China(Grant Nos.50832003 and 50921061)the National Basic Research Program of China(Grant No.2009CB623303).
文摘Multiferroic composite thinfilms of ferroelectrics and magnets have attracted ever-increasing interest in most recent years.In this review,magnetoelectric(ME)responses as well as their underlying ME coupling mechanisms in such multiferroic composite thinfilms are discussed,oriented by their potential applications in novel ME devices.Among them,the direct ME response,i.e.,magnetic-field control of polarization,can be exploited for micro-sensor applications(sensing magneticfield,electric current,light,etc.),mainly determined by a strain-mediated coupling interaction.The converse ME response,i.e.,electric-field modulation of magnetism,offers great opportunities for new potential devices for spintronics and in data storage applications.A series of prototype ME devices based on both direct and converse ME responses have been presented.The review concludes with a remark on the future possibilities and scientific challenges in thisfield.