Ab initio investigation of electronic and magnetic properties of antiferromagnetic/ferroelectric LaMnO 3 /BaTiO 3 interface

We investigate the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of LaMnO 3 /BaTiO 3 heterostructure by means of ab initio calculations within the GGA+ U approach. We consider the heterostructure when ferroelectric polarization in the BaTiO 3 film is oriented perpendicular to the LaMnO 3 substrate. We present atom and spin-resolved density of states calculations for LaMnO 3 /BaTiO 3 heterostructure with different number of BaTiO 3 overlayers as well as layer-resolved spectra for the conducting heterostructure. We found that the LaMnO 3 /BaTiO 3 heterostructure becomes conducting with a significant spin polarization indicating that the interface becomes ferromagnetically ordered. The propose concept of a ferroelectrically controlled interface ferromagnetism that offers the possibility to design novel electronic devices.