Ab Initio Studies of Magnetoelectric Coupling at PbZr$_{0.2}$Ti$_{0.8}$O$_3$/La$_{0.8}$Sr$_{0.2}$MnO$_{3}$ and PbZr$_{0.2}$Ti$_{0.8}$O$_{3}$/La$_{0.5}$Sr$_{0.5}$MnO$_{3}$ Multiferroic Interfaces

The magnetic properties of multiferroic materials can be controlled by the applied electric field. In this work, we use {\it ab initio} methods based on density functional theory (DFT) to study the magnetoelectric coupling at the (0,0,1) interface between PZT (PbZr$_{0.2}$Ti$_{0.8}$O$_{3}$) and LSMO at two different doping levels (La$_{0.8}$Sr$_{0.2}$MnO$_{3}$ and La$_{0.5}$Sr$_{0.5}$MnO$_3$). A $\pm1\%$ uniaxial strain is applied to modeled system in the direction orthogonal to the LSMO/PZT interface. We observe a transition from the ferromagnetic (FM) to antiferromagnetic (AFM) state at the PbZr$_{0.2}$Ti$_{0.8}$O$_3$/La$_{0.5}$Sr$_{0.5}$MnO$_{3}$ interface under the applied strain. In contrast, no FM/AFM transition is observed at the PbZr$_{0.2}$Ti$_{0.8}$O$_{3}$/La$_{0.8}$Sr$_{0.2}$MnO$_{3}$ interface. The results of our calculations are consistent with the available experimental data.