Giant Nonvolatile Electric Field Control of Proximity‐Induced Magnetism in the Spin–Orbit Semimetal SrIrO$_3$

With its potential for drastically reduced operation power of information processing devices, electric field control of magnetism has generated huge research interest. Recently, novel perspectives offered by the inherently large spin–orbit coupling of 5d transition metals have emerged. Here, nonvolatile electrical control of the proximity-induced magnetism in SrIrO$_3$ based back-gated heterostructures is demonstrated. Up to a 700% variation of the anomalous Hall conductivity (σ$_{AHE}$) and Hall angle (Θ$_{AHE}$) as function of the applied gate voltage V$_g$ is reported. In contrast, the Curie temperature T$_C$ ≈ 100 K and magnetic anisotropy of the system remain essentially unaffected by V$_g$ indicating a robust ferromagnetic state in SrIrO$_3$ which strongly hints to gating-induced changes of the anomalous Berry curvature. The electric-field induced ferroelectric-like state of SrTiO$_3$ enables nonvolatile switching behavior of σ$_{AHE}$ and Θ$_{AHE}$ below 60 K. The large tunability of this system, opens new avenues toward efficient electric-field manipulation of magnetism.