Voltage modulated magnetic anisotropy of rare earth iron garnet thin films on a piezoelectric substrate

Voltage-tuning of magnetic anisotropy is demonstrated in ferrimagnetic insulating rare earth iron garnets on a piezoelectric substrate, (011)-oriented PMN-PT. A 42 nm thick yttrium-substituted dysprosium iron garnet (YDyIG) film is grown via pulsed laser deposition followed by a rapid thermal anneal to crystallize the garnet into ≈5 μm diameter grains. The annealed polycrystalline film is magnetically isotropic in the film plane with total anisotropy dominated by shape and magnetoelastic contributions. Application of an electric field perpendicular to the substrate breaks the in-plane easy axis along [01 1 ¯] and an intermediate axis along [100]. The results are explained in terms of the piezoelectric remanent strain caused by poling the substrate, which is transferred to the YDyIG and modulates the magnetoelastic anisotropy.