Suppression of nonlinear magnetoelectric effect hysteresis in a layered ferromagnetic-piezoelectric structure

Nonlinear magnetoelectric effect in a planar ferromagnetic-piezoelectric composite structure, placed in the constant magnetic field H and harmonic alternating field h, manifests itself in voltage harmonics generation. The hysteresis in the field dependence of magnetostriction of the ferromagnetic layer leads to an ambiguous dependence of the harmonic amplitudes on H. The effect of the hysteresis suppression in the harmonic amplitudes dependences on the field H under increasing amplitude of the excitation field is described in the paper. In a planar structure with Ni and lead zirconate titanate layers, an increase in the field h from 1 Oe to 100 Oe led to a decrease of the coercive field from 21 Oe to 0.4 Oe in the field dependence of the first and third voltage harmonics amplitudes. The simulation showed that the effect is caused by a decrease in the relative influence of the constant field on the asymmetry of the ferromagnetic layer magnetostriction loop of the structure with increase of the excitation field. The hysteresis suppression effect will increase the measurement accuracy of the magnetoelectric sensors.