In-plane anisotropic effect of magnetoelectric coupled PMN-PT/FePt multiferroic heterostructure: Static and microwave properties

Abstract

The effects of the electric and magnetic field variation on multiferroic heterostructure were studied in this work. Thin films of polycrystalline Fe50Pt50 (FePt) were grown by dc-sputtering on top of the commercial slabs of lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate (PMN-PT). The sample was a (011)-cut single crystal and had one side polished. In this condition, the PMN-PT/FePt operates in the L-T (longitudinal magnetized-transverse polarized) mode. A FePt thin film of 20 nm was used in this study to avoid the characteristic broad microwave absorption line associated with these films above thicknesses of 40 nm. For the in-plane easy magnetization axis (01-1), a microwave magnetoelectric (ME) coupling of 28 Oe cm kV 1 was estimated, whereas a value of 42 Oe cm kV 1 was obtained through the hard magnetization axis (100). Insight into the effects of the in-plane strain anisotropy on the ME coupling is obtained from the dc-magnetization loops. It was observed that the trend was opposite along the easy and hard magnetic directions. In particular, along the easy-magnetic axis (01-1), a square and narrow loop with a factor of Mr/MS of 0.96 was measured at 10 kV/cm. Along the hard-magnetic axis, a factor of 0.16 at 10 kV/cm was obtained. Using electric tuning via microwave absorption at X-band (9.78 GHz), we observe completely different trends along the easy and hard magnetic directions; Multiple absorption lines along the latter axis compared to a single and narrower absorption line along the former. In spite of its intrinsic complexity, we propose a model which gives good agreement both for static and microwave properties. These observations are of fundamental interest for future ME microwave components, such as filters, phase-shifters, and resonators.