Local enhancement of magnetoelectric coupling observed using magnetic force microscopy

Poled multilayer capacitors (MLCs) show strain-mediated magnetoelectric coupling [1,2], but the microscopic details are unknown. By recording magnetic force microscopy (MFM) images at a polished surface in zero electric field, we show that the magnetic domain configuration of the Ni-based electrodes may be switched by electric-field history. By contrast, electric-field history has nominally no effect on the macroscopic magnetization measured in zero electric field. This suggests that miniaturized systems could show non-volatile converse magnetoelectric effects even if bulk data are not promising, thus extending the range of candidate materials systems for electric-write magnetic-read data storage. \\[4pt] [1] C. Israel, N. D. Mathur and J. F. Scott, \textit{Nature Materials} \textbf{7} (2008) 93 \\[0pt] [2] C. Israel, S. Kar-Narayan and N. D. Mathur, \textit{Appl. Phys. Lett.} \textbf{93} (2008) 173501