Pseudosurface Acoustic Waves Research Articles

Velocimetry of GHz elastic surface waves in quartz and fused silica based on full-field imaging of pump–probe reflectometry

This study reports an imaging method for gigahertz surface acoustic waves in transparent layers using infrared subpicosecond laser pulses in the ablation regime and an optical pump–probe technique. The reflectivity modulations due to the photoelastic effect of generated multimodal surface acoustic waves were imaged by an sCMOS camera illuminated by the time-delayed, frequency-doubled probe pulses. Moving the delay time between 6.0nsto11.5ns, image stacks of wave field propagation were created.Two representative samples were investigated: wafers of isotropic fused silica and anisotropic x-cut quartz. Rayleigh (SAW) and longitudinal dominant high-velocity pseudo-surface acoustic wave (HVPSAW) modes could be observed and tracked along a circular grid around the excitation center, allowing the extraction of angular profiles of the propagation velocity. In quartz, the folding of a PSAW was observed. A finite element simulation was developed to predict the measurement results. The simulation and measurement were in good agreement with a relative error of 2% to 5%.These results show the potential for fast and full-field imaging of laser-generated ultrasonic surface wave modes, which can be utilized for the characterization of thin transparent samples such as semiconductor wafers or optical crystals in the gigahertz frequency range.

Scanning Electron Microscopy Investigation of Surface Acoustic Wave Propagation in a 41° YX-Cut of a LiNbO3 Crystal/Si Layered Structure

The propagation process of the surface acoustic waves (SAW) and the pseudo-surface acoustic waves (PSAW) in a bonded layered structure of a 41° YX-cut of a LiNbO3 crystal/Si(100) crystal was investigated. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) method,in the low-energy secondary electrons registration mode, made it possible to visualize the SAW and PSAW in the LiNbO3/Si layered structure. The process of the SAW and PSAW propagation in a LiNbO3/Si layered structure and in a bulk 41° YX-cut of a LiNbO3 crystal were compared. It was demonstrated that the SAW velocities in the layered LiNbO3/Si structure exceed the typical SAW velocities for LiNbO3 and Si single crystals. In the layered structure, the SAW and PSAW velocities were 4062 m/s, 4731 m/s, and 5871 m/s. It was also demonstrated that the PSAW velocities are the same in the LiNbO3/Si layered structure and in the bulk 41° YX-cut of a LiNbO3 crystal.

The Influence of the Configuration and Material of Interdigital Transducers on the Excitation of Surface and Pseudosurface Acoustic Waves in Lithium Niobate Substrates

We have studied the excitation, propagation, and interaction of surface and pseudosurface acoustic waves in X-cut lithium niobate substrate. Resonance excitation frequencies, propagation velocities, and dispersion characteristics for the acoustic waves of each type are determined. It is established that the electrode material influences the efficiency of excitation and interaction between the acoustic waves of various types. Requirements for the material and configuration of electrodes in integrated acousto-optic devices are determined.

Влияние конфигурации и материала встречно-штыревых преобразователей на возбуждение поверхностных и псевдоповерхностных акустических волн в подложках ниобата лития

The excitation, distribution, and interaction of surface acoustic waves (SAW) and pseudo surface acoustic waves (PSAW) in a X-cut lithium niobate substrates were investigated. The resonant excitation frequencies, the wave distribution velocities and the dispersion characteristics were determined for each of the wave types. The influence of the interdigital transducer (IDT) material on the excitation efficiency and the interaction between investigated wave types was found out. The interdigital transducer material and configuration requirements for integrated acousto-optic devices were determined.

Generalized Discrete Model of Systems with Distributed Feedback Based on Surface Acoustic Waves

We have developed a self-consistent physical model that improves the accuracy of calculating the characteristics of the devices based on both surface and pseudosurface acoustic waves. The model is free from restrictions inherent in the well-known method of coupled modes and other phenomenological methods for studying distributed systems. The compact relationships describing all the characteristics of the acoustoelectric transducers of all types with allowance for the possible directionality of their radiation and its propagation loss are obtained using analytical solution of the difference equations. The method for determining the spatial orientation of the elastic-polarization ellipse in an anisotropic crystal, which allows one to unambiguously calculate the phase shift between the oscillations of two coupled dynamical subsystems, i.e., elastic displacements and the corresponding electric field, is proposed. The obtained results, which considerably facilitate the task of fast and accurate design of various devices on the basis of surface and pseudosurface acoustic waves, are valid in the general case for any frequency, including the harmonics of the frequency of the fundamental acoustic synchronism.

Finite element analysis of true and pseudo surface acoustic waves in one-dimensional phononic crystals

In this paper, we report a theoretical investigation of surface acoustic waves propagating in one-dimensional phononic crystal. Using finite element method eigenfrequency and frequency response studies, we develop two model geometries suitable to distinguish true and pseudo (or leaky) surface acoustic waves and determine their propagation through finite size phononic crystals, respectively. The novelty of the first model comes from the application of a surface-like criterion and, additionally, functional damping domain. Exemplary calculated band diagrams show sorted branches of true and pseudo surface acoustic waves and their quantified surface confinement. The second model gives a complementary study of transmission, reflection, and surface-to-bulk losses of Rayleigh surface waves in the case of a phononic crystal with a finite number of periods. Here, we demonstrate that a non-zero transmission within non-radiative band gaps can be carried via leaky modes originating from the coupling of local resonances with propagating waves in the substrate. Finally, we show that the transmission, reflection, and surface-to-bulk losses can be effectively optimised by tuning the geometrical properties of a stripe.

Guided wave Generation in Elastic Layered Substrates with Piezoelectric Coatings and Patches

Piezoelectrically generated surface and pseudosurface acoustic waves are simulated and analyzed in the mathematical framework based on the integral representations and guided wave asymptotics. In addition to the abilities of the conventional modal analysis, the integral equation approach explicitly provides the amplitudes of waves generated by a specified source, making it possible to evaluate the wave energy transmitted from the source into the substrate and its distribution among the excited guided waves. Diamond based microdevices and piezoelectric patch actuators are considered as examples.

Room temperature elastic properties of Rh-based alloys studied by surface Brillouin scattering

Platinum metal group alloys are promising materials for use in a new generation of gas turbine engines owing to their excellent high-temperature properties. In the present work, room temperature elastic properties of single crystals of Rh3Nb and Rh3Zr are investigated. Surface Brillouin scattering spectra for a range of wave vector directions on the (001) surface have been acquired in order to determine the angular variation of the velocities of the Rayleigh and pseudo-surface acoustic waves and that of the longitudinal lateral wave (LLW) threshold within the Lamb shoulder. The elastic stiffness constants C11, C12, and C44 of these cubic crystal specimens have been derived using two approaches: the first involving the least-squares fit of the combined measured wave velocity data to calculated values and the second an analytical approach using the Rayleigh velocities in the [100] and [110] directions and LLW velocity in the [100] direction, and extracting the elastic stiffness constants from the secular equations for these velocities. Results from the two methods are in good agreement and are for Rh3Nb, C11 = 368 ± 3, C12 = 186 ± 5, and C44 = 161 ± 3 in GPa; and for Rh3Zr, C11 = 329 ± 4, C12 = 185 ± 6, and C44 = 145 ± 4 in GPa.

Studying acoustic-wave fields in langasite-family crystals using the BESSY II synchrotron radiation source

The process of the excitation and propagation of pseudosurface acoustic waves in crystals of the langasite family is studied via X-ray diffractometry for the first time. The investigations are carried out using the BESSY II synchrotron radiation source in the double-crystal X-ray diffractometer scheme. The process of pseudosurface acoustic wave propagation is studied based on an analysis of the diffraction spectra of acoustically modulated crystals. Both the velocities of the pseudosurface acoustic waves and the power flow angles of the acoustic energy are measured for the first time. The pseudosurface acoustic wave is shown to be flowing. Surface and pseudosurface acoustic waves generated by an interdigital transducer in the Z cut of a La3Ga5.5Ta0.5O14 crystal are compared.

X-ray diffraction study of surface acoustic waves and pseudo-surface acoustic waves propagation in La3Ga5.5Ta0.5O14 crystal

X-ray diffraction on the crystal La3Ga5.5Ta0.5O14 modulated by surface acoustic waves (SAW) and pseudo-surface acoustic waves (PSAW) with wavelength of Λ=8 μm was studied using a double axis X-ray diffractometer at the BESSY II synchrotron radiation source. The propagation of SAW and PSAW leads to sinusoidal modulation of the crystal lattice and gives rise to diffraction satellites on the rocking curve, with the intensity and angular divergence between the diffraction satellites depending on the wavelength and amplitude of the crystal lattice acoustic modulation. The analysis of diffraction spectra enables the determination of the amplitude and acoustic wavelengths, and power flow angles of acoustic energy propagation. The investigation of acoustic wave fields showed that PSAW is a flowing back wave which propagates at an angle to the crystal surface.

Surface and pseudo-surface acoustic waves piezoelectrically excited in diamond-based structures

Surface and pseudo-surface acoustic plane waves generated in two- and three-layer AlN/Diamond and AlN/Diamond/γ-TiAl structures by a point electric source are analyzed in the mathematical framework based on the Green's matrix integral representation and guided wave asymptotics derived using the residue technique. The attention is focused on the effect of pseudo-surface-to-surface wave degeneration at certain discrete values of h/λ (h is the thickness of the piezoelectric layer and λ is the wave-length). Earlier such optimal ratios were discovered and experimentally verified for the first pseudo-surface (Sezawa) wave mode in the AlN/Diamond structure. The present research reveals this effect for higher modes as well as examines its manifestation for three-layer structures with different diamond-to-AlN thickness ratios H/h.

Design of a surface acoustic wave mass sensor in the 100 GHz range

A design for photoacoustic mass sensors operating above 100 GHz is proposed. The design is based on impulsive optical excitation of a pseudosurface acoustic wave in a surface phononic crystal with nanometric periodic grating and on time-resolved extreme ultraviolet detection of the pseudosurface acoustic wave frequency shift upon mass loading the device. The present design opens the path to sensors operating in a frequency range currently unaccessible to electro-acoustical transducers, providing enhanced sensitivity, miniaturization, and incorporating time-resolving capability while forgoing the piezoelectric substrate requirement.

Probing Thermomechanics at the Nanoscale: Impulsively Excited Pseudosurface Acoustic Waves in Hypersonic Phononic Crystals

High-frequency surface acoustic waves can be generated by ultrafast laser excitation of nanoscale patterned surfaces. Here we study this phenomenon in the hypersonic frequency limit. By modeling the thermomechanics from first-principles, we calculate the system’s initial heat-driven impulsive response and follow its time evolution. A scheme is introduced to quantitatively access frequencies and lifetimes of the composite system’s excited eigenmodes. A spectral decomposition of the calculated response on the eigemodes of the system reveals asymmetric resonances that result from the coupling between surface and bulk acoustic modes. This finding allows evaluation of impulsively excited pseudosurface acoustic wave frequencies and lifetimes and expands our understanding of the scattering of surface waves in mesoscale metamaterials. The model is successfully benchmarked against time-resolved optical diffraction measurements performed on one-dimensional and two-dimensional surface phononic crystals, probed using light at extreme ultraviolet and near-infrared wavelengths.

Surface Brillouin scattering measurement of the elastic constants of single crystal InAs0.91Sb0.09

Surface Brillouin scattering of light has been used to measure the angular dependence of the Rayleigh surface acoustic wave (SAW), pseudo surface acoustic wave (PSAW) and longitudinal lateral wave (LLW) speeds in a (100)-oriented single crystal of the ternary semiconductor alloy InAs0.91Sb0.09. The wave speed measurements have been used to determine the room temperature values of the elastic constants C11, C12 and C44 of the alloy. A simple and robust fitting procedure has been implemented for recovering the elastic constants, in which the merit function is constructed from explicit secular functions that determine the surface and lateral wave speeds in the [001] and [011] crystallographic directions. In the fitting, relatively larger weighting factors have been assigned to the SAW and PSAW data because of the greater precision with which the surface modes can be measured as compared with the lateral wave.

Pseudosurface acoustic waves in hypersonic surface phononic crystals

We present a theoretical framework allowing to properly address the nature of surfacelike eigenmodes in a hypersonic surface phononic crystal, a composite structure made of periodic metal stripes of nanometer size and periodicity of $1\text{ }\ensuremath{\mu}\text{m}$, deposited over a semi-infinite silicon substrate. In surface-based phononic crystals there is no distinction between the eigenmodes of the periodically nanostructured overlayer and the surface acoustic modes of the semi-infinite substrate, the solution of the elastic equation being a pseudosurface acoustic wave partially localized on the nanostructures and radiating energy into the bulk. This problem is particularly severe in the hypersonic frequency range, where semi-infinite substrate's surface acoustic modes strongly couple to the periodic overlayer, thus preventing any perturbative approach. We solve the problem introducing a surface-likeness coefficient as a tool allowing to find pseudosurface acoustic waves and to calculate their line shapes. Having accessed the pseudosurface modes of the composite structure, the same theoretical frame allows reporting on the gap opening in the now well-defined pseudo-SAW frequency spectrum. We show how the filling fraction, mass loading, and geometric factors affect both the frequency gap, and how the mechanical energy is scattered out of the surface waveguiding modes.

Ultrafast Laser Pulses to Detect and Generate Fast Thermomechanical Transients in Matter

The use of femtosecond laser pulses to impulsively excite thermal and mechanical transients in matter has led, in the last years, to the development of picosecond acoustics. Recently, the pump-probe approach has been applied to nano-engineered materials to optically generate and detect acoustic waves in the gigahertz-terahertz frequency range. In this paper, we review the latest advances on ultrafast generation and detection of thermal gradients and pseudo-surface acoustic waves in 2-D lattices of metallic nanostructures. Comparing the experimental findings to the numeric analysis of the full thermomechanical problem, these materials emerge as model systems to investigate both the mechanical and thermal energy transfer at the nanoscale. The sensitivity of the technique to the nanostructure mass and shape variations, coupled with the phononic crystal properties of the lattices, opens the way to a variety of applications ranging from hypersonic waveguiding to mass sensors with femtosecond time resolution.

SAW and pseudo SAW properties of NdCa4O(BO3)3 crystal

The surface acoustic wave (SAW) and pseudo SAW properties of NdCa4O(BO3)3 crystal were measured for the first time in the temperature range from −10°C to 100°C. For SAW, the largest electromechanical coupling coefficient of about 0.7% was obtained for the y–x orientation, while for the pseudo SAW the above coefficient was about 1.4% for the x–y and z–y orientations. For the y–x orientation, a second-order temperature coefficient of frequency and a turnover temperature of about −50 ppb/°C2 and 43°C, respectively, were obtained. Other investigated orientations showed approximate linear frequency changes against temperature for both SAW and pseudo SAW. This crystal is promising for application in low-loss temperature stable SAW devices and for high-temperature sensors.

Propagation of surface acoustic waves through sharply bent two-dimensional phononic crystal waveguides using a finite-difference time-domain method

In this paper, we adopt the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method to analyze surface acoustic waves propagating in two-dimensional phononic waveguides. To implement the FDTD program for dealing with surface acoustic waves, the Bloch theorem and absorbing boundary conditions are employed to deal with the periodic boundary condition and reflection from a numerical boundary. A phononic crystal consisting of circular steel cylinders that form a square lattice in an epoxy matrix is considered as an example to study phononic crystal waveguides. The dispersion relation and displacement fields are calculated to identify the band gaps and eigenmodes. The result shows the existence of a complete band gap of surface waves and thus an acoustic waveguide is created accordingly. Eigenmodes of surface waves inside the waveguide are indicated and pseudo surface acoustic waves propagating inside the straight waveguide are demonstrated. Further, waveguides with a sharp bend are reported and an improved design is suggested to enhance energy transmission.

The study of guided waves in surfaces and thin supported films using surface Brillouin scattering and acoustic microscopy

This paper reviews the use of surface Brillouin scattering (SBS) and acoustic microscopy (AM) in studying the surface dynamics of solids in order to obtain information about the near-surface elastic properties of solids and thin supported films. The vibrational modes that are probed by these means include Rayleigh surface and pseudo-surface acoustic waves, longitudinal lateral waves (surface skimming bulk longitudinal waves) and various thin film guided modes, such as Sezawa and Love waves. SBS is the inelastic scattering of light, mediated by thermodynamic fluctuations in the surface elevation and near surface elastic strains. The scattering cross-section is conveniently expressed in terms of Fourier domain elastodynamic Green’s functions. AM depends on the insonification of a surface through a coupling fluid, and the resulting excitation and subsequent decay of the various surface modes. The complex reflectivity of the fluid-loaded surface, and the line and point force surface Green’s functions are invoked in the interpretation of different modalities of AM, yielding much the same information about the surface dynamics. The focus in this paper is on the Green’s function approach. A number of illustrative examples, drawn from the authors’ research, are provided.

Gigahertz-range electro-acoustic devices based on pseudo-surface-acoustic waves in AlN∕diamond∕Si structures

Diamond and AlN are, respectively, the nonpiezoelectric and the piezoelectric materials showing the highest acoustic velocities. Consequently, pseudo-surface-acoustic waves (PSAWs) in AlN∕diamond structures exhibit the highest surface wave velocities among all known layered structures. Phase velocity dispersion curves and attenuation for PSAW propagating along this structure have been calculated for different electrical boundary conditions. An experimental delay line, designed to operate at low PSAW attenuation conditions, as predicted by theoretical results, has been implemented and tested. A good accordance between experimental results and theoretical predictions was found. It is expected that devices based on PSAW propagation in AlN∕diamond structures are suitable to operate at frequencies several times higher than those of available devices, at a given linewidth resolution limit in the transducers technology.