Enhanced Radiation Efficiency by Resonant Coupling in a Large Bandwidth Magnetoelectric Antenna

Abstract Magnetoelectric (ME) antennas hold the potential for significantly advancing miniaturization in radio frequency devices due to their compact size. However, critical hurdles still remain in ME antennas including low radiation efficiency and narrow bandwidth, which prevent them from seeing widespread use. Here, by sweeping the magnetic field to reach a resonant coupling, a significant enhancement in radiation efficiency by 70.95 ± 6.4% in a broad bandwidth ME antenna with 80 MHz is achieved as well as the far‐field radiation patterns are changed compared with that via non‐resonant coupling. The enhancement depends on the relative orientation between the magnetization and surface acoustic wave propagation direction which is dominated by the symmetry of the driving field induced by shear strain. A larger enhancement occurs when the magnetic field along hard axis of Ni due to the matching helicity and larger strain compared with easy axis scenario. This work demonstrates an innovative methodology that significantly enhances the radiation and reception efficiency in ME antennas, which may provide ideas for subsequent applications in communication antennas and magnetic sensors.