Giant magnetoelectric effect in magnet-cymbal-solenoid current-to-voltage conversion device

Abstract

A giant magnetoelectric (ME) effect is reported in a current-to-voltage (I-to-V)conversion device formed by sandwiching a PZT piezoelectric cymbal transducer between an NdFeB magnet and a Fe-core solenoid. The observed ME effect results from the direct coupling of the electromagnetically induced attractive-repellent force effect in the magnet-solenoid assembly with the amplified piezoelectric effect in the cymbal transducer. The device exhibits a colossal I-to-V conversion factor (S) of 27.1 V/A with a giant ME coefficient (α[sub v]) of 1.24 V/Oe at a low resonance frequency of 2.33 kHz, besides a large S of 0.74 V/A with a high α[sub v] of 34 mV/Oe in the nonresonance frequency range of 40 Hz–1 kHz. A physical model based on the combination of electromagnetomechanics in the magnet-solenoid assembly and amplified piezoelectricity in the cymbal transducer is present to explain the observed ME effect and the resulting I-to-V conversion in the device.