Enhanced sensitivity of magnetoelectric sensors by tuning the resonant frequency

The sensitivity of magnetoelectric (ME) sensors is more than an order of magnitude higher at their mechanical resonant frequency fr. By applying a restoring torque to an asymmetric ME sensor, we have increased its effective stiffness and, thus, fr by 20% while maintaining the enhanced sensitivity at resonance. The torque was dependent on both the tensile force from a suspended weight and the length of the wire attaching it. This provides two alternative routes for tuning fr to optimize performance. We have detected fields below 10 pT at both the shifted and unshifted fr of 132.2 Hz.