Anisotropy of magnetoelectric effects in an amorphous ferromagnet-piezoelectric heterostructure

Abstract In-plane anisotropy of linear and nonlinear magnetoelectric (ME) effects in a heterostructure composed of mechanically coupled layers of amorphous iron-based ferromagnet and piezoelectric lead zirconate-titanate ceramics has been investigated. The measurements were performed on a disk-shaped sample subjected to a low-frequency excitation magnetic field h oriented either parallel or perpendicular to a bias magnetic field H0. The first harmonic of the voltage response was recorded in the case of the linear ME effect, which was excited at frequencies of acoustic resonances of the sample, and the second harmonic in the case of the nonlinear ME effect excited in the non-resonance regime. Strong uniaxial or biaxial anisotropy for different directions of the bias field within the sample plane was observed. The uniaxial anisotropy of the ME effect occurs due to the uniaxial magnetic and magnetostrictive anisotropy of the amorphous ferromagnetic layer that is a result of its fabrication by the ultrafast cooling method. The biaxial anisotropy at resonant frequencies is the manifestation of the spatial structure of the excited acoustic modes. The anisotropy of ME effects should be taken into account when developing magnetoelectric devices based on composite heterostructures.