Magnetoelectric effect in antiferromagnetic crystals

Magnetoelectric experiments provide information on spin configurations, critical indices and microscopic ionic interactions. The basic theory of the magnetoelectric effect in antiferromagnets is rederived in this article and extended to situations in which there is an external magnetic field including the spin-flop phase. It is found that measurements of the magnetoelectric tensor α as a function of field in the antiferromagnetic and spin-flop phases of an antiferromagnet can provide more complete information in all three categories above. Certain higher-order terms are examined and it is found that it is possible to measure the staggered susceptibility directly in magnetoelectric materials. It is shown that a non-zero value of α causes a tetragonal antiferromagnet to be optically biaxial. A pedagogical discussion of the origins of magnetoelectric effects is given in the Appendix.     

Magnetoelectric effect in one-dimensional metallic conductors

The effect of a transverse magnetic field on a one-dimensional metallic current carrying conductor is considered. The field produces a transverse electric polarization which is wavevector dependent, and which causes a transverse magnetoelectric field. The magnitude of the effect is estimated for typical one dimensional conductors.     

Thermovoltaic effect in samarium sulfide-based heterostructures

The thermovoltaic effect in samarium sulfide-based bulk heterostructures with compositions Sm_{1 − x} Eu _x S and Sm_{1 − x} Gd _x S is considered in the temperature interval 300–460 K. It is shown that this effect can be observed when an external temperature gradient is absent, i.e., when the sample temperatures near the contacts from which a generated voltage is tapped off are the same. The temperature is measured with thermocouples and also by a contactless method using a thermal imager.     

Magnetoelectric effect in a magnetostrictive-piezoelectric bilayer structure

The results of theoretical and experimental investigations of the magnetoelectric effect in a magnetostrictive-piezoelectric bilayer structure have been presented. The expression for the magnetoelectric voltage coefficient in the region of electromechanical resonance has been derived based on the joint solution of the equations of motion for the magnetostrictive and piezoelectric media and the constitutive relations. The dependence of the magnitude of the effect on the thickness of the ferrite and piezoelectric layers has been analyzed. The experimental results for nickel-lead zirconate-titanate bilayer structures have been reported. The theoretical results agree perfectly with the experimental data.     

Dynamic magnetoelectric effect in terbium molybdate

The electric polarization induced in ferroelectric terbium molybdate by a magnetic field linearly varying with time is measured. The measurements are performed in fields up to 19 T at different specified rates of change in the magnetic field at temperatures of 273 and 219 K. The results obtained indicate that there are magnetoelectric effects of two types. One of them is a conventional magnetoelectric effect, which is appropriately referred to as the static magnetoelectric effect. The other effect is characterized by the fact that the electric polarization increases with an increase in the rate of change in the magnetic field and relaxes with time to zero at a fixed nonzero field. This phenomenon is termed the dynamic magnetoelectric effect.     

Heating-induced endothermal effect in semiconducting samarium sulfide

The effect of heat absorption is revealed in the temperature range where the thermovoltaic effect occurs in single-crystal samarium sulfide (SmS). It is shown that the heat absorption is caused by the collective injection of electrons from donor levels into the conduction band.     

Magnetoelectric effect in layered composites with arc shape

Magnetoelectric (ME) layered Ni/PZT/Ni composites with arc shape have been prepared by using electroless deposition. The ME effect is measured by applying both constant and alternating magnetic fields in longitudinal and transverse directions. The longitudinal ME voltage coefficient is much larger than the transverse one. With the increase of arc length or decrease of curvature, the resonance frequency of layered arc Ni/PZT/Ni composites gradually decreases, while the maximum of the ME voltage coefficient of the composites increases monotonously. The influence of the arc length and the curvature on ME coupling is discussed. The flat interface between the ferromagnetic and the piezoelectric phases in layered ME composites is believed to provide large ME voltage coefficient.     

Magnetoelectric effect in multiferroic NdMn_2O_5

We have measured the dielectric constant for NdMn_2O_5 in an external magnetic field to map out the magnetoelectric phase diagram. The phase diagram corresponds well with the previously reported data of neutron diffraction and magnetic susceptibility. Our main finding is the observation of a dielectric anomaly in the low temperature phase with a strong magnetoelectric effect, which is attributed to the independent Nd~(3+) ordering. Moreover, the absence of the dielectric anomaly in the paramagnetic phase is discussed, keeping in view the exchange interaction and its dependence on the rareearth R~(3+) ionic radius.     

Magnetoelectric effect in amorphous FeNiSiC ferromagnet-piezoelectric planar structures

The magnetoelectric (ME) effect is studied in composite two- and three-layer disk structures containing magnetostriction layers of an amorphous FeNiSiC ferromagnet and a lead zirconate titanate piezoelectric layer. Due to a high magnetostriction (∼33 × 10⁻⁶) and a low saturation field (∼200 Oe), an FeNiSiC layer has a high piezomagentic coefficient, which results in an effective ME coupling in low fields (∼25 Oe). The ME effect is ∼0.2 V cm⁻¹ Oe⁻¹ at a low frequency and increases to 11.9 and 13.2 V cm⁻¹ Oe⁻¹ when bending and in-plane mechanical vibrations are excited in a resonance manner in the structures at frequencies of ∼8.2 and ∼170.0 kHz, respectively. Structures containing amorphous FeNiSiC layers are promising for magnetic field transducers and electric energy generators and converters.     

Magnetoelectric effect in an asymmetric layered magnet-piezoelectric structure

The magnetoelectric effect in magnet-piezoelectric layered composite structures is discussed. The magnetoelectric voltage and the magnetoelectric coefficient are calculated taking into account bending deformations that accompany tensile and compressive strains in structures with asymmetric positions of magnetic layers relative to the neutral plane. It is demonstrated that bending deformations lead to a nonuniform distribution of the electric field over the thickness of the piezoelectric layer and to a nonmonotonic dependence of the magnetoelectric coefficient on the thickness ratio of the layers in the structure.     

Anisotropy of the magnetoelectric effect in terbium molybdate

Anisotropy of the nonlinear magnetoelectric effect in a single-crystal, single-domain sample of the β′ metastable ferroelectric paramagnetic phase of terbium molybdate Tb₂(MoO₄)₃ was studied experimentally in dc magnetic fields of up to 6 T at temperatures of 4.2 and 1.8 K. It was shown that the existing models of the magnetoelectric effect cannot explain the experimental dependences of magnetic field-induced electric polarization on the direction of the applied magnetic field. A model of the magnetoelectric effect is proposed that qualitatively describes the observed angular dependence of the magnetic field-induced electric polarization.     

Magnetoelectric effect in multilayer ferromagnetic-piezoelectric structures and its application in electronics

Magnetoelectric effect in multilayer structures composed of magnetostrictive and piezoelectric layers, materials and technologies used to fabricate these structures, and the results of studying the magnetoelectric effect in them are considered. Magnetic field sensors, transformers, and voltage generators based on the magnetoelectric effect in multilayer structures are described.     

Magnetoelectric effect in thin-film magnetostriction-piezoelectric structures grown on a substrate

The theory of the magnetoelectric effect in a thin magnetoelectric film-passive substrate structure is presented. Based on the simultaneous solution of the constitutive equations and the equations of motion for the film and substrate, the dispersion law has been derived for elastic waves propagating in the sample plane. It has been shown that the elastic vibrations in the substrate propagate in a near-surface layer if the velocity of propagation of elastic vibrations in the substrate is higher than that in the magnetoelectric film. In this case, the substrate thickness almost does not influence the magnitude of the effect.     

Magnetoelectric effect in bilayer magnetostrictive-piezoelectric structure. Theory and experiment

Bilayer magnetostrictive-piezoelectric structures have certain advantages compared to bulk composites and this allows us to consider them as perspective materials for the development of devices based on the magnetoelectric effect. The theory of magnetoelectric effect in bilayer magnetostrictive-piezoelectric structure is presented taking into account the thickness dependence amplitude of the mechanical oscillations for the structures in form of rectangular plate. The equation for frequency dependence of the ME effect in the region on the electromechanical resonance was obtained, using motion equation, elastodynamics and electrostatic equations for the magnetostrictive, piezoelectric phases and taking into account the boundary conditions on the interface. The cases of longitudinal and transverse orientations of the electric and magnetic fields were considered. It is shown that the thickness dependence of the ME voltage coefficient has the maximum. The dependence between frequency and the thickness ratio of the layers is presented for both the theory and experiment.     

磁致伸缩/压电层叠复合材料磁电效应分析

采用有限元分析软件COMSOL5.0建立了三维悬臂梁模型,分析了磁致伸缩/压电/磁致伸缩叠层复合材料的磁电系数α_(ME),并就几何参数对复合结构磁电系数的影响进行了优化分析.首先,利用稳态求解器研究了磁电层状复合结构内部的应力、应变、位移以及电势分布情况,利用瞬态求解分析了磁电复合结构各变量动态分布规律;其次,应用小信号频域分析研究了该结构的谐振频率以及在不同偏置磁场对输出电压的影响,结果表明,随着直流偏置磁场的增加,输出电压逐渐减小.改变复合材料不同层的厚度,分析了磁电层与压电层厚度比t_m/t_p对磁电系数的影响,结果表明,随着厚度比增加,α_(ME)逐渐增大,其增加速率逐渐减小;最后,分析了磁电系数α_(ME)随复合结构面积、长宽比的变化情况.分析表明,α_(ME)随磁电复合结构面积的增加逐渐增加,其增加速率逐渐减小;当磁电复合结构面积恒定时,其磁电系数随长宽比L/W增加表现出先增加后减小的趋势,存在最优值.     

Electrodynamics of Magnetoelectric Media and Magnetoelectric Fields

The relationship between magnetoelectricity and electromagnetism is a subject of a strong interest and numerous discussions in microwave and optical wave physics and material sciences. The definition of the energy and momentum of the electromagnetic (EM) field in a magnetoelectric (ME) medium is not a trivial problem. The question of whether electromagnetism and magnetoelectricity can coexist without an extension of Maxwell's theory arises when the effects of EM energy propagation are studied and the group velocity of the waves in an ME medium is considered. The energy balance equation reveals unusual topological structure of fields in ME materials. Together with certain constraints on the constitutive parameters of a medium, definite constraints on the local field structure should be imposed. Analyzing the EM phenomena inside an ME material, the question “what kind of the near fields arising from a sample of such a material can be measured?” should be answered. The visualization of the ME states requires an experimental technique that is based on an effective coupling to the violation of spatial as well as temporal inversion symmetry. To observe the ME energy in a subwavelength region, it is necessary to assume the existence of first-principle near fields—the ME fields. These are non-Maxwellian near fields with specific properties of violation of spatial and temporal inversion symmetry. A particular interest to the ME fields arises in studies of metamaterials with “artificial-atoms” ME elements.     

Magnetoelectric effect in perovskite quantum paraelectric EuTiO3

On the basis of successful theoretical explanation of the observed large magnetic-field effect (by ∼7% with 1.5 T) on the dielectric constant below the Néel temperature T_N of 5.5 K, we have demonstrated convincingly the magnetoelectric effect in an antiferromagnetic quantum paraelectric EuTiO₃ system. The mutual control of electric and magnetic properties is revealed by the variation of the electric-field-induced polarization with applied magnetic fields as well as the change of the magnetic-field-induced spin moments under the control of electric fields. It is found that the applied electric field (magnetic field) acts like a fictitious magnetic field (electric field) on the EuTiO₃ system. The magnetoelectric susceptibility is deduced to be proportional to the product of the magnetization, electrical polarization, magnetic susceptibility and dielectric susceptibility.     

Magnetoelectric effect in composites of magnet,metal-cap,and piezoceramic

We report on the magnetoelectric (ME) effect in three-phase magnet-metal-cap-piezoceramic composites of a thickness-polarized Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ disk bonded between two truncated conical brass caps and two thickness-magnetized NdFeB magnets along the thickness direction. The effect originated from the product of the magnetic attractive–repellent effect in the magnets and the amplified piezoelectric effect in the cap-disk assembly. The composites exhibited a ME voltage coefficient α_V of ∼2.6 mV/Oe in the non-resonance frequency range of 0.1–10 kHz with good voltage-field linearity in the field range of 10^-3–10 Oe, besides an enhanced α_V of 167.4 mV/Oe at a resonance frequency of 14.4 kHz. Compared to conventional two-phase and three-phase magnetostrictive material-contained ME composites, these composites possessed two distinct benefits of higher property-tailorable flexibility and requiring no external dc bias magnetic field to enable an obvious α_V. PACS 77.84.-S; 75.80.+q; 77.84.Dy; 77.65.-j; 85.80.Jm     

Magnetoelectric effect in cobalt ferrite-barium titanate composites and their electrical properties

CoFe₂O₄-BaTiO₃ composites were prepared using conventional ceramic double sintering process with various compositions. Presence of two phases in the composites was confirmed using X-ray diffraction. The dc resistivity and thermoemf as a function of temperature in the temperature range 300 K to 600 K were measured. Variation of dielectric constant (ɛ′) with frequency in the range 100 Hz to 1 MHz and also with temperature at a fixed frequency of 1 kHz was studied. The ac conductivity was derived from dielectric constant (ɛ′) and loss tangent (tan δ). The nature of conduction is discussed on the basis of small polaron hopping model. The static value of magnetoelectric conversion factor has been studied as a function of magnetic field.