Resistive switching and spintronics emerged among the leading approaches for the development of scalable and energy-efficient memories and information processing devices. In resistive switching systems, an electrical stimulus, voltage or current, programs the material’s resistivity. In spintronics, electrical signals are used to manipulate and probe the material’s magnetic configuration. Combing resistive switching and spintronics functionalities in a single device is an exciting opportunity to bring together the advantages of charge- and spin-based electronics, enriching the design space for practical applications, and to further the basic understanding of interactions between electrical and magnetic properties in matter. In this talk, I will discuss the interplay between the resistive switching and magnetism in a model system (La,Sr)MnO3 (LSMO). Applying voltage to LSMO triggers the coupled metal-insulator and ferromagnetic transitions producing volatile low-to-high resistance switching. The switching occurs in a characteristic spatial pattern: the formation of a paramagnetic insulating barrier that splits the ferromagnetic metal matrix. The voltage-induced barrier formation drives the development of a uniaxial magnetic anisotropy that overpowers the intrinsic material’s anisotropy. Furthermore, inducing resistive switching leads to pronounced anisotropic and colossal magnetoresistance anomalies and nonequilibrium scaling of ordinary and anomalous Hall effects. Because resistive switching is a common phenomenon observed in many materials, the findings of this work open an avenue toward utilizing resistive switching as an efficient tool for the electrical manipulation of magnetism in a variety of ferro-, ferri-and antiferromagnetic metal-insulator transition systems.
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