Polarization Control of the Interface Ferromagnetic to Antiferromagnetic Phase Transition in Co/Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃

Based on first-principles calculations, we predict the polarization control of the interfacial magnetic phase and a giant electronically driven magnetoelectric coupling (MEC) in Co/PbZr0.25Ti0.75O3 (PZT)(001). The effect of Co oxidation at the interface shared with (Zr,Ti)O2-terminated PZT is evidenced. The magnetic phase of the oxidized Co interface layer is electrically switched from the ferromagnetic to the antiferromagnetic state by reversing the PZT polarization from upward to downward, respectively. A comparative study between oxidized and unoxidized Co/PZT interfaces shows that in oxidized Co/PZT bilayers, the variation of the interface spin moment upon polarization reversal exceeds that of unoxidized Co/PZT bilayers by about 1 order of magnitude. We define a surface MEC constant αS taking into account the polarization dependence of both the spin and orbital moments. In unoxidized Co/PZT bilayers, we obtain αS ≈ 2 × 10–10 G cm2 V–1, while a giant surface coupling αS ≈ 12 × 10–10 G cm2 V–1 is found in the case of oxidized Co/PZT. We demonstrate that the polarization control of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy via spin–orbit coupling is not only effective at the interface but it extends to the Co film despite the interface origin of the MEC. This study shows that tailoring the nature of atomic bonding and electron occupancies allows for improving the performance of functional interfaces, enabling an efficient electric field control of spin–orbit interactions. Moreover, the nonlocal character of this effect holds promising perspectives for the application of electronically driven interface MEC in spin–orbitronic devices.