Magnetoelectric coupling in epitaxial CoFe2O4 on BaTiO3

The authors have synthesized epitaxial CoFe2O4 films on piezoelectric BaTiO3 single crystal substrates as a model magnetoelectric system. The BaTiO3 substrate provides a surface lattice that can be dynamically changed in an attempt to alter the strain state and hence the magnetization of the CoFe2O4 film. Magnetization measurements indicate that the magnetic anisotropy of CoFe2O4 is dominated by compressive epitaxial strain effects and can be understood in terms of the symmetry of the substrate surface unit cell. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.