Electric Field Effect on Magnetization and Magnetocrystalline Anisotropy at the Fe/MgO(001) Interface

Density-functional calculations are performed to explore magnetoelectric effects originating from the influence of an external electric field on magnetic properties of the Fe/MgO(001) interface. It is shown that the effect on the interface magnetization and magnetocrystalline anisotropy can be substantially enhanced if the electric field is applied across a dielectric material with a large dielectric constant. In particular, we predict an enhancement of the interface magnetoelectric susceptibility by a factor of the dielectric constant of MgO over that of the free standing Fe (001) surface. We also predict a significant effect of electric field on the interface magnetocrystalline anisotropy due to the change in the relative occupancy of the 3d-orbitals of Fe atoms at the Fe/MgO interface. These results may be interesting for technological applications such as electrically controlled magnetic data storage.