This study addresses the experimental and theoretical investigations of guided elastic waves propagation in piezo-magnetic multi-layered structure. The structure is composed of a 20×TbCo2(5nm)/FeCo(5nm) nanostructured multi-layer deposited between two Aluminum (Al) Inter-Digitals Transducers forming a surface acoustic wave delay line, on a Y-cut LiNbO3 substrate. We compare the calculated and measured phase velocity variation under the action of the external magnetic field orientation and magnitude. We find quantitative agreement between the measured and modeled phase velocity shift for all external magnetic field configurations (hard axis and easy axis) and for different shape modes of elastic waves at their first and third harmonic operation frequencies. The shear horizontal mode exhibits a maximum phase velocity shift close to 20% for a ratio close to 1 between magneto-elastic film thickness and wavelength.

We present here the demonstration of magnetoelectric switching of magnetization between two stable positions defined by a combination of anisotropy and magnetic field. A magnetoelastic nanostructured multilayer with the required uni-axial characteristic was deposited onto a commercial piezoelectric actuator. Thanks to the inverse magnetostrictive effect, the effective anisotropy of the magnetic element is controlled by the applied voltage and used to switch magnetization from one state to the other. Both vibrating sample magnetometer and magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements have been performed and demonstrate the magnetoelectric switching.

We present here a concept of a memory cell called MELRAM based on a magnetic element with giant magnetostriction, embedded in a piezoelectric matrix. Two equilibrium orientations of magnetization are defined by combining uniaxial anisotropy together with a magnetic polarization in the hard axis direction. Using the piezoelectric matrix, an anisotropic stress is created onto the magnetic element when applying a voltage across electrodes. Thanks to the inverse magnetostrictive effect, the effective anisotropy of the magnetic element is controlled by the applied voltage and used to switch magnetization from one state to the other. Micromagnetic simulations show the effect of applied stress on magnetization and theoretical feasibility of the device. Retrieval of information can be nondestructively made by giant magnetoresistance reading. Details of the principle, simulations, and performance perspectives are discussed.

Magnetic memory cells associated with the stress-mediated magnetoelectric effect promise extremely low bit-writing energies. Most investigations have focused on the process of writing information in memory cells, and very few on readout schemes. The usual assumption is that the readout will be achieved using magnetoresistive structures such as Giant Magneto-Resistive stacks or Magnetic Tunnel Junctions. Since the writing energy is very low in the magnetoelectric systems, the readout energy using magnetoresistive approaches becomes non negligible. Incidentally, the magneto-electric interaction itself contains the potentiality of the readout of the information encoded in the magnetic subsystem. In this letter, the principle of magnetoelectric readout of the information by an electric field in a composite multiferroic heterostructure is considered theoretically and demonstrated experimentally using $[N\times ({\text{TbCo}}_2/\text{FeCo})]$ /${[\text{Pb}({\text{Mg}}_{1/3}{\text{Nb}}_{2/3}){\mathrm{O}}_3]}_{(1-x)}-{[{\text{PbTiO}}_3]}_x$ stress-mediated ME heterostructures.

While surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors have been used to measure temperature, pressure, strains, and low magnetic fields, the capability to measure bipolar fields and high fields is lacking. In this paper, we report magnetic surface acoustic wave sensors that consist of interdigital transducers made of a single magnetostrictive material, either Ni or ${\mathrm{TbFe}}_2$, or based on exchange-biased ($\mathrm{Co}/\mathrm{IrMn}$) multilayers. By controlling the ferromagnet magnetic properties, high-field sensors can be obtained with unipolar or bipolar responses. The issue of hysteretic response of the ferromagnetic material is especially addressed, and the control of the magnetic properties ensures the reversible behavior in the SAW response.