Shear-mode magnetostrictive/piezoelectric composite with an enhanced magnetoelectric coefficient

A magnetoelectric (ME) laminate heterostructure consisting of two shear-mode piezoelectric Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-30PbTiO(3) (PMN-PT) single crystal layers, a longitudinally magnetized magnetostrictive Tb0.3Dy0.7Fe1.92 alloy plate, and a mechanical clamping brass substrate has been demonstrated that has a notably superior ME effect relative to previous laminate configurations of these two materials. A giant ME coefficient of 7.5 V/(cm Oe) at low frequencies under an optimal dc magnetic bias of similar to 400 Oe was found. The superior ME effects originate from the nature of heterostructure design, which allows the PMN-PT single crystals to operate in a shear mode that has maximum electro-mechanical coupling (i.e., d(15) = 6800 pC/N). (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4718352]