Non-volatile ferroelastic switching of the Verwey transition and resistivity of epitaxial Fe3O4/PMN-PT (011)

摘要

A central goal of electronics based on correlated materials or 'Mottronics'is the ability to switch between distinct collective states with a controlvoltage. Small changes in structure and charge density near a transition cantip the balance between competing phases, leading to dramatic changes inelectronic and magnetic properties. In this work, we demonstrate that anelectric field induced two-step ferroelastic switching pathway in (011)oriented 0.71Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.29PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) substrates can be used totune the Verwey metal-insulator transition in epitaxial Fe3O4 films in a stableand reversible manner. We also observe robust non-volatile resistance switchingin Fe3O4 up to room temperature, driven by ferroelastic strain. These resultsprovides a framework for realizing non-volatile and reversible tuning of orderparameters coupled to lattice-strain in epitaxial oxide heterostructures over abroad range of temperatures, with potential device applications.