Wide-band magnetoelectric characterization of a ferrite-piezoelectric multilayer using a pulsed magnetic field

The use of a pulsed magnetic field for studies on frequency characteristics of the magnetoelectric (ME) effect in multilayer composite structures is described. The method is based on the excitation of a ferrite-lead zirconate titanate multilayer with short magnetic field pulses, followed by the measurement and Fourier analysis of the ME response signal. It is shown that the ME voltage coefficient αE generally decreases as the frequency increases from 1 kHz to 1 MHz except (i) at some discrete frequencies where the coefficient increases by an order of magnitude due to electromechanical resonance in the structure and (ii) a local maximum at 2–4 kHz in αE vs. frequency due to relaxation processes caused by the conductivity of individual layers.