Ferroelectric control of in-plane to out-of-plane magnetization switching at poly(vinylidene fluoride)/iron interface

Using relativistic density-functional theory calculations, we investigate magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy (MAE) of the poly(vinylidene fluoride)(PVDF)/Fe/Cu/Ag heterostructure. We find that MAE of this heterostructure can be flexibly manipulated by the ferroelectric polarization of PVDF. In particular, by carefully designing the interface structure, we demonstrate that the ferroelectric polarization reversal can switch the easy axis of the Fe layer from in-plane to out-of-plane, due to the surface/interface magnetoelectric effect. We expect such strategy would be beneficial to electric-field controlled magnetic data storage.