Visualization of surface acoustic waves by means of synchronous amplitude-modulated illumination

A simple technique for visualizing two-dimensional traveling surface acoustic wave (SAW) phenomena in real time was developed. The technique requires illumination of a SAW carrying substrate with a collimated, sinusoidally amplitude-modulated laser beam. Though at first the technique may appear to be stroboscopic in nature, it in fact has its foundations in spatiotemporal correlation theory. It is shown that if the modulation frequency of the illumination beam is equal to, or an integer fraction of, the SAW frequency (i.e., if they are temporally correlated) then, after simple spatial filtering, high-visibility stationary fringes can be produced. In fact, it is shown that a maximum fringe visibility of nearly 60% can be achieved. It is believed that this is the highest visibility yet reported for similar SAW visualization techniques.     

Quantitative visualization of ultrasonic acoustic waves by means of digital laser speckle-technologies

An original version of digital laser speckle photography has been used for visualization and quantitative diagnosis of acoustic waves in liquids in the megahertz frequency range. Standing acoustic waves were generated in tanks of special configuration which permitted obtaining analytical dependences of refraction angles of the probe laser radiation on the wave intensity. These refraction angles were determined experimentally by the change in contrast of the speckle fields arising in the scattered probe radiation and recorded by means of high-resolution digital CCD matrices. Quantitative diagnosis of the pressure and velocity fields in acoustic waves was carried out by measuring the deformation of the laser intensity correlation functions in recorded speckle fields. __________ Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 81, No. 2, pp. 229–239, March–April, 2008.     

Review of shear surface acoustic waves in solids

General considerations about physical reasons for the existence of surface acoustic waves and, in particular, shear surface acoustic waves in solids are presented. The results of calculations for various types of shear surface acoustic waves are described, and corresponding physical explanations are given.     

Temperature-sensitive cuts for surface acoustic waves in quartz

Temperature is the main parameter that affects the stability of surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices such as the external and internal stress. The temperature sensitivity of the frequency as a function of quartz crystal anisotropy is presented by a perturbation equation because of a temperature change. The analytical result shows which cut is suitable for high temperature sensitivity of the quartz and which cut is associated with low temperature sensitivity. The theoretical sensitivity values are compared with experimental results. Both the experimental and theoretical results are in good agreement.     

Ultrasonic linear motor using surface acoustic waves

The first success in the operation of an ultrasonic linear motor at HF band driving frequency using the Rayleigh wave is described. The substrate material is a 127.8° Y-cut LiNbO₃ wafer whose diameter is three inches. Four interdigital transducers (IDT's) are arranged to excite x- and y-propagation waves in both directions. The dimensions of the IDT are 25 mm aperture size, 400 μm pitch, 100 μm strip width, and 10 pairs. The operation area is about 25 mm square, The driving frequency is about 9.6 MHz in the x direction and about 9.1 MHz in the y direction. The most important point of the success is the shape of the contact surface and slider materials. For the contact materials, small balls about 1 mm in diameter are introduced to obtain sufficient contact pressure around 100 MPa. The use of ruby balls, steel balls, and tungsten carbide balls is investigated. Each slider has three balls to enable stable contact at three points. The maximum transfer speed is about 20 cm/s. The transfer speed is controllable by changing the driving voltage     

Reflective acousto-optic modulation with surface acoustic waves

A reflective optical modulator based on acousto-optic modulation of light by a mirror corrugated with surface acoustic waves is presented. Modulation of optical amplitude, frequency, and phase is demonstrated at visible (633- and 488-nm) and deep UV (244-nm) wavelengths. The reflective modulator has eight channels and achieves a maximum first-order diffraction efficiency of 6.0%.     

Propagation of surface acoustic waves inn-type GaAs films

The effect of nonparabolicity on the amplification of surface acoustic waves in n-type GaAs films is investigated quantum mechanically in the GHz frequency region. Numerical results show that the amplification coefficient for the nonparabolic band structure is enhanced due to the nonlinear nature of the energy band in semiconductors. Moreover, the amplification coefficients in semiconductors depend on the temperature, the electronic screening effect, the frequency of sound waves, the applied electric field, and the thickness of the semiconductor film.Partially supported by National Science Council of the Republic of China.     

Bleustein-Gulyaev-Shimizu surface acoustic waves in two-dimensional piezoelectric phononic crystals

In this paper, we present a study on the existence of Bleustein-Gulyaev-Shimizu piezoelectric surface acoustic waves in a two-dimensional piezoelectric phononic crystal (zinc oxide, ZnO, and cadmium-sulfide, CdS) using the plane wave expansion method. In the configuration of ZnO (100)/CdS(100) phononic crystal, the calculated results show that this type of surface waves has higher acoustic wave velocities, high electromechanical coupling coefficients, and larger band gap width than those of the Rayleigh surface waves and pseudosurface waves. In addition, we find that the folded modes of the Bleustein-Gulyaev-Shimizu surface waves have higher coupling coefficients.     

Gas sensing properties of Langmuir-Blodgett polypyrrole film investigated by surface acoustic waves

The gas sensing properties of organic polypyrrole (PPS) film, deposited onto LiNbO(3) substrate by Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique, have been monitored by surface acoustic wave (SAW) delay lines and studied with respect to sensitivity, selectivity, response time, stability, repeatability, and aging. The SAW PPy elements demonstrate high sensitivity toward NH(3) gas with high selectivity against CH(4), CO, H(2), and O(2). The detectable threshold concentration has been estimated as 20 ppm NH(3) in air; the response time is in the 10s range, and the recovery time is about 15 min; the repeatability of the SAW response toward eight sequential NH(3) gas exposures is within 6%; the aging of the PPy film is within 4% over a month; and the effect of humidity on SAW NH(3) gas response is negligible for the typical conditions at room ambient air. Partially reversible SAW response recognizing NH(3) gas as one component of an interfering gases-mixture has been observed. Simultaneous chemoresponses of SAW phase and insertion loss have been performed in order to investigate the sensing mechanisms. By merging with electrical conductivity gas response, the dominant SAW sensing effects for NH(3 ) gas detection are defined as elastic loading.     

Critical magnetic fields of Cu-Pb-Cu proximity-effect sandwiches studied by acoustic surface waves

The temperature dependence of the surface-wave attenuation in Cu-Pb-Cu sandwiches, in the absence of a magnetic field, agrees well with the BCS expression. We compare the temperature dependence of the parallel and perpendicular critical fields with expressions derived from the Ginzburg-Landau theory. We get satisfactory agreement, provided that for the thinner specimens we take the mean free paths in the proximity-effect sandwich to be somewhat smaller than the values found for monitor strips. This implies that some interdiffusion between the Pb and the Cu is taking place.     

Electromagnetic waves generated by opposite acoustic waves

An acoustic wave of a combined frequency (formed upon the superposition of the opposite acoustic waves of close frequencies) from a moving source generates electromagnetic waves of the same frequency with the amplitude increasing in the longitudinal direction. The problem is solved for the first time, assuming the absence of electric charges and neglecting the frequency dispersion. It is shown that the running acoustic wave is accompanied by weak electromagnetic waves. This effect may find new applications, in particular, in the space energetic.     

Stress-sensitivity mapping for surface acoustic waves on quartz

A model is presented, relating the velocity shifts of surface acoustic waves (SAW) to the six tensor components of quasistatic stresses. Stress sensitivity is then defined through six independent coefficients, whatever the origin of the stress (direct external forces, thermoelastic stresses) might be. These coefficients, depending on crystal anisotropy, are computed for different cut angles and propagation directions of quartz crystal, and represented as a contour-line mapping. The determination of SAW quartz cuts compensated for both planar isotropic stresses and first-order temperature effects make it possible to define a family of quartz cuts with potentially low stress and temperature sensitivities for oscillator applications.     

Nonlinear surface acoustic waves on an isotropic solid

A systematic derivation of the approximate coupled amplitude equations governing the propagation of a quasi-monochromatic Rayleigh surface wave on an isotropic solid is presented, starting from the non-linear governing differential equations and the non-linear free-surface boundary conditions, using the method of mulitple scales. An explicit solution of these equations for a signalling problem is obtained in terms of hyperbolic functions. In the case of monochromatic excitation, it is shown that the second harmonic amplitude grows initially at the expense of the fundamental and that the amplitudes of the fundamental and second harmonic remain bounded for all time.     

Kapitza conductance model using loaded acoustic surface waves

An investigation is presented of the heat transfer between liquid helium and solids associated with surface impurities or faults. The solid is described as a linear chain which is terminated by a matched dissipating element, formed by an impurity, which excites loaded acoustic surface waves (loaded Rayleigh waves). Using established theoretical and experimental results on the behavior of acoustic surface waves on a solid-to-helium interface, a heat transfer coefficient is calculated. Suggestions are made on the interpretation of some outstanding problems in Kapitza work in the light of the present model.Supported by the SRC in the form of research grants.     

Spatial dispersion of short surface acoustic waves in piezoelectric ceramics

Summary This work explores the effect of the electric field gradient in the constitutive behavior of elastic dielectrics by analyzing the anti-plane surface waves propagating over a half-space of polarized ceramics. The obtained frequency equation shows that the gradient effect makes the surface waves dispersive, although they are known to be non-dispersive according to the classical theory of linear piezoelectricity that neglects the gradient effect. This analysis further shows that there exists a microstructural characteristic length, comparing to which the dispersion is significant for short waves while negligible for long waves. This suggests that the dispersion may have significant effects for very small surface acoustic wave devices operating with high-frequency short waves.     

Evaluation of film adhesion to substrates by means of surface acoustic wave dispersion

For thin film structures acoustically classified as slow-on-fast systems, modeling and evaluation of their interfacial condition are known to be very complex and difficult due to dispersion and multi-mode excitation of acoustic waves. This paper presents a quantitative model and a reliable measurement procedure established for adhesion evaluation of such film structures. An effective interface model employing a virtual intermediate layer is utilized for the dispersion prediction of the surface acoustic wave, which is affected by various interfacial conditions. Through acoustic microscopy experiments, this model presents a potential method to classify the bonding condition. Comparisons with a destructive scratch test and an acoustic imaging verify the failure mode of the film structure.     

Thin-film characterization using a scanning laser acoustic microscope with surface acoustic waves

The use of surface acoustic waves in a scanning laser acoustic microscope for the characterization of the mechanical or acoustic properties of thin films deposited on piezoelectric substrates is demonstrated. Quantitative measurements of mass loading effects of 5000-A-thick tungsten films deposited on lithium niobate substrates were obtained using 100-MHz surface acoustic waves. No information about the tungsten film could be obtained using 100-MHz compressional waves. Methods of generating surface waves on nonpiezoelectric materials so that this technique could be used on arbitrary substrates are discussed.