Enhancement of Magnetoelectric Properties in A Surface-Mount Magnetoelectric Device

The fabrication and properties of a novel double layered surface-mount magnetoelectric（ME） device are investigated and reported. This ME device is made up of two opposite polarized piezoelectric PZT slices bonded on the same side of a magnetostrictive material Metglas, forming a novel two PZT in-series device. ME voltage obtained from the two PZT in-series is obviously higher than that of single PZT in a magnetic field with certain value. The ME voltage coefficient（αV） of the surface-mount ME device is significantly enhanced by adjusting the thickness of Metglas： 1） At a frequency of 1 k Hz, αV of this device increases with the layer number of Metglas increased, and the maximum value of αV is about 4.25 times than the minimum; 2） At a frequency of 5 k Hz, the maximum value of αV is 458 mV /Oe, which derives from the ME device with three layers Metglas. This novel design provides an effective way to manufacture miniature and high sensitive ME devices, which makes it possible to apply ME device into integrated circuit（IC）.

Lumped-equivalent circuit model for multi-stage cascaded magnetoelectric dual-tunable bandpass filter

A lumped-equivalent circuit model of a novel magnetoelectric tunable bandpass filter, which is realized in the form of multi-stage cascading between a plurality of magnetoelectric laminates, is established in this paper for convenient analysis.The multi-stage cascaded filter is degraded to the coupling microstrip filter with only one magnetoelectric laminate and then compared with the existing experiment results. The comparison reveals that the insertion loss curves predicted by the degraded circuit model are in good agreement with the experiment results and the predicted results of the electromagnetic field simulation, thus the validity of the model is verified. The model is then degraded to the two-stage cascaded magnetoelectric filter with two magnetoelectric laminates. It is revealed that if the applied external bias magnetic or electric fields on the two magnetoelectric laminates are identical, then the passband of the filter will drift under the changed external field; that is to say, the filter has the characteristics of external magnetic field tunability and electric field tunability. If the applied external bias magnetic or electric fields on two magnetoelectric laminates are different, then the passband will disappear so that the switching characteristic is achieved. When the same magnetic fields are applied to the laminates, the passband bandwidth of the two-stage cascaded magnetoelectric filter with two magnetoelectric laminates becomes nearly doubled in comparison with the passband filter which contains only one magnetoelectric laminate. The bandpass effect is also improved obviously. This research will provide a theoretical basis for the design, preparation, and application of a new high performance magnetoelectric tunable microwave device.

Ferromagnetic resonance frequency shift model of laminated magnetoelectric structure tuned by electric field

Based on Smith-Beljers theory and classical laminate theory, an explicit model is proposed for the ferromagnetic resonance （FMR） frequency shift of a stress-mediumed laminated magnetoelectric structure tuned by an electric field. This model can effectively predict the experimental phenomenon that the FMR frequency increases under a parallel magnetic field and decreases under a perpendicular magnetic field when the electric field ranges from - 10 kV/m to 10 kV/m. Besides, this theory further shows that the FMR frequency increases monotonically as the angle between the direction of the external magnetic field and the outside normal direction of the laminated structure increases, and the frequency will increase as great as 7 GHz. In addition, when the angle reaches a certain critical value, the external electric field fails to tune the FMR frequency. When the angle is above the critical value, the increase of the electric field induces the FMR frequency to increase, and the opposite scenario happens when it is below the critical value. When the angle is 90~ （parallel magnetic field）, the FMR frequency is the most sensitive to the change of the electric field.

MAGNETOELECTRIC RESPONSES IN MULTIFERROIC COMPOSITE THIN FILMS

Multiferroic composite thinfilms of ferroelectrics and magnets have attracted ever-increasing interest in most recent years.In this review,magnetoelectric(ME)responses as well as their underlying ME coupling mechanisms in such multiferroic composite thinfilms are discussed,oriented by their potential applications in novel ME devices.Among them,the direct ME response,i.e.,magnetic-field control of polarization,can be exploited for micro-sensor applications(sensing magneticfield,electric current,light,etc.),mainly determined by a strain-mediated coupling interaction.The converse ME response,i.e.,electric-field modulation of magnetism,offers great opportunities for new potential devices for spintronics and in data storage applications.A series of prototype ME devices based on both direct and converse ME responses have been presented.The review concludes with a remark on the future possibilities and scientific challenges in thisfield.