  Electric-field control of magnetism via inverse magnetostrictive effect is an
efficient path towards improving energy-efficient storage and sensing devices
based on giant magnetoresistance effect. In this letter, we report on lateral
electric-field driven strain-mediated modulation of magnetic properties in
Co$/$Cu$/$Py pseudo spin valve grown on ferroelectric PMN-PT substrate. We show
a decrease of the giant magnetoresistance ratio of the pseudo spin valve with
increasing electric field, which is attributed to the deviation of the Co layer
magnetization from the initial direction due to strain-induced magnetoelastic
anisotropy contribution. Additionally, we demonstrate that strain-induced
magnetic anisotropy effectively shifts the switching field of the
magnetostrictive Co layer, while keeping the switching field of the nearly
zero-magnetostrictive Py layer unaffected due to its negligible
magnetostriction constant. We argue that magnetostrictively optimized magnetic
films in properly engineered multilayered structures can offer a path to
enhancing the selective magnetic switching in spintronic devices.
