Steering Magnetic Switching with Electric Fields

Controlling magnetism using electric fields is a key challenge in developing future spintronic technologies. In a new study published in Communications Materials, an international research team, including our colleague Maxim Mostovoy, has investigated how electric fields can control switching between magnetic states in the multiferroic material GdMn₂O₅.

By mapping the transitions under combined electric and magnetic fields, the researchers demonstrate that the electric field can steer the pathways through which the material switches between states. Their experiments, supported by theoretical modelling, also reveal conditions under which these pathways are particularly sensitive to small changes.

The findings provide new insight into the mechanisms behind controllable magnetic switching and offer design principles that could help researchers explore similar effects in other materials—potentially advancing electric-field control of magnetism for future spintronic applications.

Publication: M. Ryzhkov et al., “Highly controllable switching pathways in multiferroic GdMn₂O₅,” Communications Materials 7, Article 276 (2026).