Giant tunneling electroresistance effect driven by an electrically controlled spin valve at a complex oxide interface.

A giant tunneling electroresistance effect may be achieved in a ferroelectric tunnel junction by exploiting the magnetoelectric effect at the interface between the ferroelectric barrier and a magnetic La(1-x)Sr(x)MnO3 electrode. Using first-principles density-functional theory we demonstrate that a few magnetic monolayers of La(1-x)Sr(x)MnO3 near the interface act, in response to ferroelectric polarization reversal, as an atomic-scale spin valve by filtering spin-dependent current. This produces more than an order of magnitude change in conductance, and thus constitutes a giant resistive switching effect.