Reconfigurable Electronics Based on Multiferroics and Nanomagnetism

Research could lead to the development of new materials with large magnetoelectric (ME) coupling for next-generation multifunctional devices, including, multi-state (neuromorphic-like) circuits and memories, and E-field tunable microwave resonators for secure communications.

Air Force Research Laboratory, Arlington, Virginia

Multifunctional magnetoelectric materials with high exchange represent a missing “holy grail” of materials physics. To combine polarization and magnetization in the same solid is nothing short of actually controlling the fundamental nature of electromagnetism in matter. Although magnetoelectricity (ME) is an intrinsic phenomenon in some natural materials at low temperature, such single-phase materials suffer from an extremely weak ME exchange.

In contrast, composites consisting of magnetostrictive and piezoelectric phases can feature dramatically larger ME coefficients. This proposed program focuses on achieving the disruptive potential of emerging multifunctional magnetoelectrics, and in so doing lay the foundations for their use as a materials platform that would benefit future AFOSR applications.