Electrically Switchable Longitudinal Nonlinear Conductivity in Magnetic Semiconductors

Writing data by electric field (as opposed to electric current) offers promises for energy efficient memory devices. While this data writing scheme is enabled by the magnetoelectric effect, the narrow spectrum of room-temperature magnetoelectrics hinders the design of practical magnetoelectric memories, and the exploration of other mechanisms toward low-power memories is greatly demanding. Here, we propose a mechanism that allows the electric-field writing of data beyond the framework of magnetoelectric effect. By symmetry analysis, we show that electric field can induce longitudinal nonlinear conductivity (LNC) in a wide spectrum of magnetic materials, including ferromagnets, antiferromagnets, magnetoelectrics, and nonmagnetoelectrics. The LNC is electrically switchable by reversing the electric field, where the switched LNC is detectable by transport measurements. Our first-principles simulations combined with transport calculations further predict YFeO3 and CuFeS2 (room-temperature antiferromagnets) to showcase electrically switchable LNC. Our Letter helps enrich the research avenues in nonlinear charge transport, and offers a pathway for designing energy efficient devices based on LNC.