Ferroelectrically tunable magnetism in BiFeO3/BaTiO3 heterostructure revealed by the first-principles calculations

The perovskite oxide interface has attracted extensive attention as a platform for achieving strong coupling between ferroelectricity and magnetism. In this work, robust control of magnetoelectric (ME) coupling in the BiFeO3/BaTiO3 (BFO/BTO) heterostructure (HS) was revealed by using the first-principles calculation. Switching of the ferroelectric polarization of BTO induce large ME effect with significant changes on the magnetic ordering and easy magnetization axis, making up for the weak ME coupling effect of single-phase multiferroic BFO. In addition, the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) and the exchange coupling constants J for the BFO part of the HSs are simultaneously manipulated by the ferroelectric polarization, especially the DMI at the interface is significantly enhanced, which is three or four times larger than that of the individual BFO bulk. This work paves the way for designing new nanomagnetic devices based on the substantial interfacial ME effect.