MULTIFERROICS
What are multiferroics?
Multiferroics exhibit more than one primary ferroic property at the same time: ferromagnetism, ferroelectricity and ferroelasticity. Most materials of interest are magnetoelectric. Prime examples are Barium Titanate (BaTiO3) and Bismuth Iron Oxide (BiFeO3).
What are multiferroics used for?
Logic devices made from multiferroics promise to be 10 to 100 times more energy efficient than the current CMOS technology will ever be. The magnetoelectric spin-orbit devices avoid what is known as Boltzmann's tyranny for the subthreshold slope and can also be made smaller (Manipatruni et al, Nature 565, 35-42, 2019).
Other applications are low-power reconfigurable antiferromagnetic spintronic devices.
Scanning NV of multiferroics
The small size and low field of spin cycloids in multiferroic BiFeO makes the material a test bed for the performance of an NV microscope. Quantitative NV magnetometry helps to understand the influence of the different physical parameters that create these cycloids.