Purpose. The purpose of this work was to investigate the characteristics of linear and nonlinear magnetoelectric (ME) effects in a structure containing a mechanically coupled layer of Metglas amorphous alloy and a layer of PMN-PT electrostrictive ceramics.

Methods. The structure was placed in an excitation magnetic field with a frequency of 5–300 kHz and an amplitude of up to 6 Oe, and a parallel DC bias magnetic field of 0–100 Oe. The amplitudes of the 1st and 2nd harmonics of the voltage generated by the structure were measured using a lock-in amplifier as a function of frequency, excitation field, and bias field.

Results. It is shown that the magnetostriction of Metglas and the electrostrain of PMN-PT ceramics in weak fields quadratically depend on the magnetic and electric fields. The linear direct ME effect and the nonlinear ME effect of frequency doubling in the structure, arising due to the nonlinearity of magnetostriction, were discovered and investigated. The dependences of the 1st and 2nd harmonic amplitudes of the ME voltage on the magnetic field and the amplitude of the excitation field are well described by theory. A linear increase in the harmonic amplitudes by more than 25 times was demonstrated when an electric field of up to 2 kV/cm was applied to the ceramic layer. In the described structure, the ME coefficient was 1.7 V/(Oe·cm) for the linear effect and 20 mV/(Oe2·cm) for the nonlinear effect.

Conclusion. The results can be used to create magnetic field sensors and frequency doublers.