Influence of the magnetic state on the voltage-controlled magnetoelectric effect in a multiferroic artificial heterostructure YIG/PMN-PZT

Abstract

The artificial multiferroic heterostructure used in this work is composed by an yttrium iron garnet (YIG) film deposited by radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering on a metalized PMN-PZT ceramic. We demonstrate, thanks to the well-known converse magnetoelectric (CME) coupling, the control of the magnetic state of the YIG film by means of a low electric field applied to the PMN-PZT ceramic. In particular, it is shown that the variations of the magnetization induced by the strain are functions of the magnetic sate of the film. It is shown that the maximum amplitude variation is observed at the coercive magnetic field (Hc), whereas when H increases, the strain effect has a limited impact on the film magnetization. A second effect has also been remarked on the magnetization of the YIG film but only after the first strain induced cycle has been applied. These variations, observed only under low applied magnetic fields, can be attributed to the re-orientation of some magnetic moments which are easy to switch under low magnetic fields. We find that after poling the YIG film, i.e., applying a magnetic field on it, the initial state is restored. The CME coupling coefficient is determined for different magnetic states of the YIG film, and the maximum value 11 × 10−8 s/m is obtained at H = Hc and E = Ec (the coercive field of the PMN-PZT ceramic). The relative susceptibility tunability available for the heterostructure proposed is 16.8% for an electric field applied between 0 and −4 kV/cm.