Electrically driven structural transitions for non-volatile magnetoelectric effects

The use of ferroelectric crystals to electrically control magnetism in overlying ferromagnetic films is a hot topic of magnetoelectrics. The multiferroic composites display sizeable Converse Magnetoelectric Effects (CMEs) at room temperature. Large and hysteretic strain changes were recently reported in PMN-32%PT crystals thus permitting large and non-volatile CMEs in the ferromagnetic film. These remanent strain states, repeatably interconverted upon application of electric fields, have been ascribed to an electrically driven structural phase transition. We propose to perform in-operando neutron single-crystal diffraction experiments with applied electric fields to study the electrically driven structural transitions occurring on a PMN-PT (110)pc crystal. The diffraction experiment will allow to disclose valuable insights on the symmetry of the phase switched by the electric field and to determine possible superstructures and eventually the crystallographic positions.