Strong magnetoelectric effect in a Heusler alloy-based magnetic tunnel junction

We study the magnetoelectric property of the magnetic tunnel junction(MTJ) formed between the half-metallic Heusler alloy and $CoFe$ exchange ferromagnet. The MTJ thus fabricated has demonstrated a large magnetoresistance increase for the anti-parallel spin alignment. Remarkably, the system exhibits a zero-bias current for the anti-parallel spin alignment, while it is absent for the parallel alignment. We argue that this manifests the strong magneto-electric coupling present in the MTJ, which is strongly enhanced by the half-metallic nature of Heusler alloy. \\\\ $^*$This work was partially supported by The National Program for Tera-Level Nanodevices of the Korea Ministry of Science and Technology as one of The 21 Century Frontier Programs.