Electrical control of Curie temperature in cobalt using an ionic liquid film

The electric field effect on magnetization properties and Curie temperature of Co ultra-thin films has been investigated. An electric field is applied to a Co film by using an electric double layer (EDL) formed in a polymer film containing an ionic liquid. The change in the Curie temperature is ∼100 K by applying the gate voltage of ±2 V, suggesting that the observed large modifications of magnetization properties are attributed to the significant change in the Curie temperature, which is induced by a large amount of carrier density control due to the formation of the EDL.