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They convert energy from a magnetic field into a mechanical oscillation and subsequently into an electric current by means of an effect known as the composite magnetoelectric effect.

A team of researchers led by Associate Professor Kenta Kimura of the Graduate School of Engineering at Osaka Metropolitan University investigated the phenomenon of nonreciprocal optical absorption in the magnetoelectric antiferromagnet LiNiPO4 at shortwave infrared wavelengths.

Rice University neuroengineer Jacob Robinson and his team designed the first magnetoelectric material that not only solves this issue but performs the magnetic-to-electric conversion 120 times faster than similar materials.

"With that question in mind, we thought that magnetoelectric materials were ideal candidates for use in neurostimulation. They respond to magnetic fields, which easily penetrate into the body, and convert them into electric fields -- a language our nervous system already uses to relay information."

The researchers started with a magnetoelectric material made up of a piezoelectric layer of lead zirconium titanate sandwiched between two magnetorestrictive layers of metallic glass alloys, or Metglas, which can be rapidly magnetized and demagnetized.