Magnetoelectric coupling effect of polarization regulation in BiFeO3/LaTiO3 heterostructures*

An effective regulation of the magnetism and interface of ferromagnetic materials is not only of great scientific significance, but also has an urgent need in modern industry. In this work, by using the first-principles calculations, we demonstrate an effective approach to achieve non-volatile electrical control of ferromagnets, which proves this idea in multiferroic heterostructures of ferromagnetic LaTiO3 and ferroelectric BiFeO3. The results show that the magnetic properties and two-dimensional electron gas concentrations of LaTiO3 films can be controlled by changing the polarization directions of BiFeO3. The destroyed symmetry being introduced by ferroelectric polarization of the system leads to the transfer and reconstruction of the Ti-3d electrons, which is the fundamental reason for the changing of magnetic properties. This multiferroic heterostructures will pave the way for non-volatile electrical control of ferromagnets and have potential applications.