Magnetoelectric Antenna Array

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the theoretical and practical research of a magnetoelectric antenna array with control by electric potential. Magnetoelectric multiferroic structures have been of great scientific interest in recent years, since they have allowed the creation of new types of microwave devices with advantages such as high speed, small dimensions, and energy efficiency. The paper demonstrates experimentally and theoretically that such structures can simultaneously contain the effects previously consider in earlier theories. These are the dependences on the magnitude of the applied electric field: the frequency of ferromagnetic resonance considered in the theory of magnetoelectric interaction, and the spectrum of reciprocal electromagnetic-spin waives due to the dependence of the dielectric constant of the ferroelectric on the applied electric field. In order to confirm this idea, a two-element antenna array that includes a magnetoelectric composite structure as a control element has been developed. The magnetoelectric composite material is formed by an yttrium-iron garnet film and piezoelectric PZT. In this work, a comparative analysis of the results of simulation and experiment has been carried out. For this, an experimental setup and a model of a two-element antenna array have been designed, and an electromagnetic simulation has been carried out. The experimental and the simulation results have showed a high degree of convergence. At a frequency of about 2.4 GHz, the experiment has observed a shift in the radiation pattern by 12 degrees, and the simulation has showed a shift of 10 degrees. The frequency dependences of the reflection coefficient obtained both during simulation and during the experiment for two values of the applied electric field, 0 kV/cm and 20 kV/cm, have showed a certain degree of similarity. These results, as well as the mathematical description of the processes in magnetoelectric multiferroics, confirm the hypothesis about the need to consider these effects simultaneously when designing microwave devices.