Magnetic field dependence of the magnetoelectric effect of PZT/NFO multiferroic composite at the electromagnetic resonance

Magnetoelectricity is related to the interaction between the magnetic and electric subsystems in a given material. The combination of piezoelectric and magnetostrictive materials gives rise to the magnetoelectric effect (ME) due to mechanical stress between the constituent phases. At electromechanical resonance (EMR) the ME may improve the ME by several orders. In particular, for the 2-2 composite BST8/NFO the ME is 300 times higher than any other frequencies. This work studied the ME of 3-0 PZT/NFO multiferroic composite at the EMR frequency.

The PZT/NFO sample was processed by hot forging synthesis in an 80/20 mol stoichiometry. The magnetization measure was performed in a magnetometer MPMS3- Quantum  Design. The ME measurements were performed using the lock-in technique. The sample magnetoimpedance was performed using a solartron SI 1260. The impedance shows an EMR near 200 kHz. The applied DC magnetic field (up to 6000 Oe) changed the resonance peak position due to the magnetoimpedance effect. The maximum ME coefficient at this frequency was 30 times higher than at lower frequencies. Furthermore, the ME at EMR showed a strong dependence on the DC magnetic field, indicating that the mechanism of the ME at EMR depends on the dynamics of the magnetic domains in the sample.