Deterministic control of coupled ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic orders remains a central challenge in multiferroics, limiting their integration into functional magnetoelectrics and magnonic-devices. (111)pc BiFeO3 with a robust single spin cycloid, offers direct magnetoelectric-coupling and a platform for efficient spin transport, yet multi-magnetic domains and ferroelectric-fatigue have prevented reproducible control. Here, we show that anisotropic-compressive in-plane strain stabilizes a single antiferromagnetic domain with unique spin-cycloid vector, by breaking the symmetry of the (111)pc plane. Epitaxial BiFeO3 films grown on orthorhombic NdGaO3 (011)o [(111)pc] substrates impose the required anisotropic in-plane strain and stabilizes single antiferromagnetic domain, as confirmed through direct imaging with scanning NV microscopy and non-resonant-x-ray-magnetic-scattering. Remarkably, these engineered films exhibit deterministic and non-volatile 180{\deg} switching of ferroelectric and single antiferromagnetic domains over 1,000 cycles. The monodomain state also enables anisotropic and threefold enhanced magnon transport with reduced scattering. Thus, symmetry-designed (111)pc monodomain BiFeO3 offers a robust platform for advanced magnetoelectric and magnonic applications.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2410.22447,
title = {Symmetry-designed BiFeO3 single domain spin cycloid for efficient spintronics},
author = {Pratap Pal and Jonathon L. Schad and Anuradha M. Vibhakar and Shashank Kumar Ojha and Sajid Hussain Gi-Yeop Kim and Saurav Shenoy and Fei Xue and Kaushik Das and Yogesh Kumar and Paul Lenharth and A. Bombardi and Sayeef Salahuddin and Roger D. Johnson and Si-Young Choi and Mark S. Rzchowski and Long-Qing Chen and Ramamoorthy Ramesh and Paolo G. Radaelli and Chang-Beom Eom},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2410.22447},
year = {2025}
}