Room temperature magnetic-field manipulation of electrical polarization in multiferroic thin film composite BiFeO3/La2/3Ca1/3MnO3

The electrical polarization in an epitaxially BiFeO3 film grown on La2/3Ca1/3MnO3/SrTiO3 is observed to be enhanced greatly by a magnetic field at room temperature. The simultaneous ferromagnetic order and ferroelectric polarization shown by the BiFeO3 film causes the strong coupling of the magnetic and ferroelectric domains in the BiFeO3 films. It was proposed that the activation energy for the electrical polarization domains switching is reduced by the application of a magnetic field. As a result, the electrical polarization that can be switched by an electrical field is increased by the magnetic field.