Lateral electric-field control of giant magnetoresistance in Co/Cu/Fe/BaTiO3 multiferroic heterostructure

We report lateral electric-field-driven sizable changes in the magnetoresistance of Co/Cu/Fe tri-layered wires on BaTiO3 single crystal. While the observed change is marginal in the tetragonal phase of BaTiO3, it reaches over 40% in the orthorhombic and rhombohedral phases with an electric field of 66 kV/cm. We attribute it to possible electric-field-induced variations of the spin-dependent electronic structures, i.e., spin polarization, of the Fe via interfacial strain transfer from BaTiO3. The contrasting results for the different phases of BaTiO3 are discussed, associated with the distinct aspects of the ferroelectric polarization switching processes in each phase. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.