Enhanced self-bias magnetoelectric effect in locally heat-treated ME laminated composite

This study reports the improvement in the magnetoelectric (ME) coupling effect in a locally heat-treated FeBSi (Metglas)/Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-PbZrO₃-PbTiO₃ single crystal laminated composite under zero magnetic bias. The high-temperature pulse laser treatment could induce local crystallization along the laser scanning line, but adjacent domains remained still amorphous, which resulted in the thermal and lattice mismatch. Therefore, it could produce a residual stress between the crystalline and amorphous phases, which generated an internal bias field in the Metglas foil. The experimental results showed that the ME coefficient for the laser-treated laminate was enhanced to 1220 V/cm Oe at the resonance frequency of 23.32 kHz without a magnetic bias, which was two times higher than that of the untreated ME laminates. The induced ME voltage also showed a linear response to the applied AC magnetic field with an amplitude as low as 10⁻¹⁰ T at the resonance. The excellent ME performance could, therefore, serve as a promising and practicable application for highly sensitive magnetic field sensors under the zero bias field.