Nonvolatile Electric Control of the Anomalous Hall Effect in an Ultrathin Magnetic Metal

Low-dimensional magnetism has been boosted by the recent discovery of the ferromagnetism in layered two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors. Although the macroscopic magnetic moments of 2D ferromagnets are weak, the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) can serve as a versatile electric probe to their magnetic properties. Here, the nonvolatile electric-field manipulation of the AHE in an ultrathin metallic ferromagnet with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at room temperature is reported, which is achieved by the electrostatic modulation of the longitudinal resistivity via a ferroelectric substrate without varying magnetization. Therefore, this work demonstrates an electric-field-controlled room-temperature memory device based on the zero-magnetic-field anomalous Hall resistance of an ultrathin ferromagnet. More importantly, the experimental results disentangle magnetization and anomalous Hall resistance. As a result, the study reveals a linear decrease of anomalous Hall conductivity with normal conductivity, which is distinct from previous scaling relations. Accordingly, this work manifests a universe avenue to harnessing the AHE in low-dimensional magnetic materials.