Magnetoelectric Exchange Spring for Spin-Wave Logic with Ultralow Energy Consumption

Overview & Synopsis

Spin waves (magnons) are intrinsically free of Joule heating during their propagation in magnets. Exploring, understanding, and manipulating such quasiparticles not only helps reveal the exotic magnonic phenomena in condensed matter physics but also underpins the development of information devices with low energy consumption. However, achieving low-power and scalable control of spin-wave propagation remains a critical challenge. Herein, a magnetoelectric exchange spring has been artificially designed and constructed across an interface between ferroelectric BaTiO3 and ferromagnetic (La,Sr)MnO3 with low magnetic damping, in which polarization-modulated orbital reconstruction tailors local magnetic anisotropy and enables reversible control of spin-wave propagation. By successfully deviating from the Janovec-Kay-Dunn law, reversal polarization of engineered BaTiO3 (Ps~1.2 uC cm^-2, Vc~0.4 V) is sufficient to switch the coherent magnon transport in the (La,Sr)MnO3, indicating the magnetoelectric heterointerface may serve as a promising candidate for atto-joule control of spin-wave propagation (normalized to a 10*10 nm^2 device). Furthermore, taking advantage of amplitude, phase, and frequency to encode spin waves, all 16 compact Boolean logics with ultralow energy consumption have been designed. The artificial magnetoelectric exchange spring can be broadly applicable to various material choices, offering a versatile platform for developing energy-efficient and integrated magnonic devices.