Low voltage control of exchange coupling in a ferromagnet-semiconductor quantum well hybrid structure.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31263145.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-10774-0 and PMC identifier 6603040.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Voltage control of ferromagnetism on the nanometer scale is highly appealing for the development of novel electronic devices with low power consumption, high operation speed, reliable reversibility and compatibility with semiconductor technology. Hybrid structures based on the assembly of ferromagnetic and semiconducting building blocks are expected to show magnetic order as a ferromagnet and to be electrically tunable as a semiconductor. Here, we demonstrate the electrical control of the exchange coupling in a hybrid consisting of a ferromagnetic Co layer and a semiconductor CdTe quantum well, separated by a thin non-magnetic (Cd,Mg)Te barrier. The electric field controls the phononic ac Stark effect-the indirect exchange mechanism that is mediated by elliptically polarized phonons emitted from the ferromagnet. The effective magnetic field of the exchange interaction reaches up to 2.5 Tesla and can be turned on and off by application of 1V bias across the heterostructure.