title: Polar domain walls trigger magnetoelectric coupling.
abstract: Interface physics in oxides heterostructures is pivotal in material's science. Domain walls (DWs) in ferroic systems are examples of naturally occurring interfaces, where order parameter of neighboring domains is modified and emerging properties may develop. Here we show that electric tuning of ferroelastic domain walls in SrTiO3 leads to dramatic changes of the magnetic domain structure of a neighboring magnetic layer (La1/2Sr1/2MnO3) epitaxially clamped on a SrTiO3 substrate. We show that the properties of the magnetic layer are intimately connected to the existence of polar regions at twin boundaries of SrTiO3, developing at , that can be electrically modulated. These findings illustrate that by exploiting the responsiveness of DWs nanoregions to external stimuli, even in absence of any domain contribution, prominent and adjustable macroscopic reactions of neighboring layers can be obtained. We conclude that polar DWs, known to exist in other materials, can be used to trigger tunable responses and may lead to new ways for the manipulation of interfacial emerging properties.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus UAB, 08193, Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Josep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fontcuberta
authors.affiliation: Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus UAB, 08193, Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain.|Institució Catalana Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), 08010 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.|Univ. ersitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Dept. Física, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Vassil
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Skumryev
authors.affiliation: Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus UAB, 08193, Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain.|Institució Catalana Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), 08010 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Laukhin
authors.affiliation: Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus UAB, 08193, Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Granados
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB3 2EQ UK.
authors.forename: Ekhard K H
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Salje