Dielectric screening and electric field control of ferromagnetism at the CaMnO3/CaRuO3 interface

Control of magnetism by an applied electric field is a desirable technique for the functionalization of magnetic materials. Motivated by recent experiments, we study the electric field control of the interfacial magnetism of CaRuO3/CaMnO3 (CRO/CMO) (001), a prototype interface between a nonmagnetic metal and an antiferromagnetic insulator. Even without the electric field, the interfacial CMO layer acquires a ferromagnetic moment due to a spin-canted state, caused by the Anderson-Hasegawa double exchange (DEX) between the Mn moments and the leaked electrons from the CRO side. An electric field would alter the carrier density at the interface, leading to the possibility of controlling the magnetism, since DEX is sensitive to the carrier density. We study this effect quantitatively using density-functional calculations in the slab geometry. We find a textbook-like dielectric screening of the electric field, which introduces polarization charges at the interfaces and the surfaces. The extra charge at the interface enhances the ferromagnetism via the DEX interaction, while away from the interface the original antiferromagnetic (AFM) state of the Mn layers remains unchanged. The effect could have potential application in spintronics devices.