Giant Tunneling Electroresistance Effect Driven by an Electrically Controlled Spin Valve at a Complex Oxide Interface

A giant tunneling electroresistance effect may be achieved in a ferroelectric tunnel junction by exploiting the magnetoelectric effect at the interface between the ferroelectric barrier and a magnetic La1-xSrxMnO3 electrode. Using first-principles density-functional theory we demonstrate that a few magnetic monolayers of La1-xSrxMnO3 near the interface act, in response to ferroelectric polarization reversal, as an atomic-scale spin valve by filtering spin-dependent current. This produces more than an order of magnitude change in conductance, and thus constitutes a giant resistive switching effect.