fast 180 magnetization switching in a strain mediated multiferroic heterostructure driven by a voltage

www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN received: 11 February 2016 accepted: 20 May 2016 Published: 08 June 2016 Fast 180° magnetization switching in a strain-mediated multiferroic heterostructure driven by a voltage Ren-Ci Peng1, Jia-Mian Hu2, Kasra Momeni2, Jian-Jun Wang2, Long-Qing Chen1,2 & Ce-Wen Nan1 Voltage-driven 180° magnetization switching provides a low-power alternative to current-driven magnetization switching widely used in spintronic devices Here we computationally demonstrate a promising route to achieve voltage-driven in-plane 180° magnetization switching in a strain-mediated multiferroic heterostructure (e.g., a heterostructure consisting of an amorphous, slightly elliptical Co40Fe40B20 nanomagnet on top of a Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 film as an example) This 180° switching follows a unique precessional path all in the film plane, and is enabled by manipulating magnetization dynamics with fast, local piezostrains (rise/release time