Electric field tuning of a nickel zinc ferrite resonator by non-linear magnetoelectric effects

The nature of nonlinear magnetoelectric (NLME) effect has been investigated at room-temperature in a single-crystal Zn substituted nickel ferrite. Tuning of the frequency of magnetostatic surface wave (MSSW) modes under an applied pulsed DC electric field/current has been utilized to probe the effect. The frequencies of the modes at 8-20 GHz were found to decrease by similar to 400 MHz for an applied DC power P of similar to 100 mW and the frequency shift was the same for all of the MSSW modes and linearly proportional to P. A model is proposed for the effect and the NLME phenomenon was interpreted in terms of a reduction in the saturation magnetization due to the DC current. The decrease of magnetization with applied electric power, estimated from data on mode frequency versus P, was -2.50 G/mW. The frequency tuning efficiency of the MSSW modes due to NLME effects in the ferrite resonator was found to be 4.1 MHz/mW which is an order of magnitude higher than the shift reported for M-type strontium and barium hexaferrite resonators investigated earlier. The spinel ferrite resonator discussed here has the potential for miniature, electric field tunable, planar microwave devices for the 8-20 GHz frequency range.

Automated summary

The nonlinear magnetoelectric (NLME) effect in a single-crystal Zn substituted nickel ferrite was investigated at room-temperature. The frequency tuning of magnetostatic surface wave (MSSW) modes under a pulsed DC electric field/current was utilized to study the effect. The study proposed a model for the effect and found that the NLME phenomenon can be explained by a reduction in the saturation magnetization due to the applied DC current. The results suggest that the spinel ferrite resonator has the potential for miniature, electric field tunable, planar microwave devices in the 8-20 GHz frequency range.