Abstract
First-principles techniques are used to investigate the behavior of BiFeO/LaFeO perovskite oxide superlattices epitaxially grown on a (001)-SrTiO substrate. The calculations show that 1/1 superlattices exhibit a ground state combining a trilinear coupling of one polar and two oxygen rotational lattice modes, and weak ferromagnetism. The microscopic mechanism allowing one to manipulate the magnetization with an electric field in such systems is presented and its dependence on strain and chemical substitution is discussed. BiFeO/LaFeO artificial superlattices appear to be good candidates to achieve electric switching of magnetization at room temperature.
- Received 18 May 2013
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.88.060102
©2013 American Physical Society