It is predicted that magnetic anisotropy of a thin magnetic film may be affected by the polarization of a ferroelectric material. Using a Fe∕BaTiO3 bilayer as a representative model and performing first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that a reversal of the electric polarization of BaTiO3 produces a sizable change in magnetic anisotropy energy of Fe films. Tailoring the magnetic anisotropy of a nanomagnet by an adjacent ferroelectric material may yield entirely new device concepts, such as electric-field controlled magnetic data storage.
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Duan et al. (2008) studied this question.