Investigation of quasi lateral-field-excitation on (yxl)-17° LiNbO3 single crystal

Quasi lateral-field-excitation (LFE) on LiNbO₃ crystal is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. It is found that when the driving electric field direction is parallel to the crystallographic X-axis of the piezoelectric substrate, (yxl)-17° LiNbO₃ LFE bulk acoustic wave devices work on quasi-LFE mode. The experimental results agreed with the theoretical prediction well. The results provide the cut of LiNbO₃ crystal for quasi-LFE bulk acoustic wave devices, which is important for designing high performance LFE sensors on LiNbO₃ substrates.     

Lateral field excitation properties of langasite single crystal

In this work, bulk acoustic wave propagation properties of langasite single crystal excited by lateral electric field have been investigated. Three important crystal cuts have been identified for different operational modes of lateral field excitation (LFE) on langasite substrate, namely the (yxl)65o (pure-LFE mode), (yxl)45o (quasi-LFE mode), and (yxl)0o (pseudo-LFE mode). Devices on langasite substrate with the above cuts were fabricated and tested, and the experimental results agree well with the theoretical analysis. It is found that a pure thickness shear mode exists in the (yxl)65o langasite LFE device with the bare side facing liquid, and no spurious mode is found due to its moderately large piezoelectric coupling factor. In addition, (yxl)0o langasite LFE device is also found suitable for liquid phase sensing applications.     

Properties study of LiNbO3 lateral field excited device working on thickness extension mode

This paper investigates the properties of thickness extension mode excited by lateral electric field on LiNbO3 by using the extended Christoffel-Bechmann method. It finds that the lateral field excitation coupling factor for amode (quasi-extensional mode) reaches its maximum value of 28% on X-cut LiNbO3. The characteristics of a lateral field excitation device made of X-cut LiNbO3 have been investigated and the lateral field excitation device is used for the design of a high frequency ultrasonic transducer. The time and frequency domain pulse/echo response of the LiNbO3 lateral field excitation ultrasonic transducer is analysed with the modified Krimholtz-Leedom-Matthae model and tested using traditional pulse/echo method. A LiNbO3 lateral field excitation ultrasonic transducer with the centre frequency of 33.44 MHz and the -6 dB bandwidth of 33.8% is acquired, which is in good agreement with the results of the Krimholtz-Leedom-Matthae model. Further analysis suggests that the LiNbO3 lateral field excitation device has great potential in the design of broadband high frequency ultrasonic transducers.     

Interaction of light with acoustic waves excited by an inphase multielement transducer in the 1.0–2.5 GHz range

Interaction between a weakly divergent optical beam and an acoustic wave generated in the range 1.0–2.5 GHz by an inphase multielement electroacoustic piezoelectric transducer is analyzed. A piezoelectric (Y + 36°)-cut LiNbO₃ plate is fixed on the surface of an X-cut LiNbO₃ acoustic duct with the help of metallic sublayers (Cr, Cu, In, Cu, or Cr). The inphase structure of the transducer is formed by the upper electrodes inter-connected by short conductors. The signal is applied through a coaxial Chebyshev transformer. The efficiencies of electroacoustic conversion and acoustooptic interaction are calculated as functions of frequency. The experimental setup, method, and results are described.     

Variational analysis of Er:Ti:LiNbO3 waveguide lasers based on Gaussian/two-half Gaussian mode field distribution

Starting with two dimensional, scalar wave equation, a variational equation was established for the fundamental TE and TM modes guided in Ti:LiNbO₃ waveguides on the basis of assuming a symmetric Gaussian mode field function in the width direction and two-half Gaussian trial functions in the depth direction. The controllable waveguide fabrication parameters, including channel width, diffusion temperature, initial Ti-strip thickness and diffusion time, dependent of fundamental mode size, effective pump area, coupling efficiency between pump and laser modes, and the coupling loss between a Ti:LiNbO₃ waveguide and a fiber were numerically calculated for Z-cut Er:Ti:LiNbO₃ channel waveguide lasers at three possible emission wavelengths 1532,1563 and 1576 nm and two possible pump wavelengths 1480 and 980 nm. The calculated results were compared with those of Gaussian/Hermite–Gaussian mode field distribution in detail.     

Protein-modified shear mode film bulk acoustic resonator for bio-sensing applications

In this paper, we present a shear mode film bulk acoustic biosensor based on micro-electromechanical technology. The film bulk acoustic biosensor is a diaphragmatic structure consisting of a lateral field excited ZnO piezoelectric film piezoelectric stack built on an Si₃N₄ membrane. The device works at near 1.6 GHz with Q factors of 579 in water and 428 in glycerol. A frequency shift of 5.4 MHz and a small decline in the amplitude are found for the measurements in glycerol compared with those in water because of the viscous damping derived from the adjacent glycerol. For bio-sensing demonstration, the resonator was modified with biotin molecule to detect protein–ligand interactions in real-time and in situ. The resonant frequency of the biotin-modified device drops rapidly and gradually reaches equilibrium when exposed to the streptavidin solution due to the biotin–streptavidin interaction. The proposed film bulk acoustic biosensor shows promising applications for disease diagnostics, prognosis, and drug discovery.     

Double-layer PVDF transducer and V(z) measurement system for measuring leaky Lamb waves in a piezoelectric plate

This paper presents a new experimental measurement method for leaky Lamb waves propagating in a piezoelectric plate immersed in a conductive fluid. The measurement system is a low-frequency version of lens-less acoustic microscopy which has been developed based on a line-focus double-layer PVDF transducer. The transducer and its defocusing measurement system can perform V(z) measurements on a sample plate immersed in a fluid, and therefore can obtain the leaky Lamb wave velocities with high accuracy. An X-cut LiNbO₃ plate is investigated with this experimental measurement system to find out its fluid-loading effects, especially the conductive loading effects by water of various conductivities. Angular dependence of this conductive loading effect along different propagating directions on the X-cut LiNbO₃ plate is measured. It is found out the conductive loading effects are strongly dependent on the piezoelectric coupling factor. Theoretical calculations based on partial wave theory have also been carried out and compared with experimental data. Good agreements have been observed.     

Parametric excitation of helicon and acoustic waves in piezoelectric semiconductor-plasma

The parametric excitation of a helicon and an acoustic wave in a piezoelectric semiconductor-plasma in the presence of a strong magnetic field has been investigated using the coupled mode theory. The expressions for the threshold value of the electric field required for the onset of instability and for the growth rate well above the threshold have been obtained. It is observed that an acoustic wave of higher frequency and higher phase velocity than that of the pump wave cannot be excited. The analysis has been applied to the case of n type InSb sample where the threshold value of the electric field is found to be of the order 5.2 × 10³ Vm^?1 and the growth rate at an electric field 5.2 × 10⁴ Vm^?1 is of the order of 8.7 × 10¹⁰ sec^?1.     

Ca3NbGa3Si2O14晶体的介电和压电特性

利用Y切和(yxl)30°切两种样品测量了Ca3NbGa3Si2O14晶体的介电、压 电和部分弹性参数.计算了(yxl)θ切型相关压电常数随切角的变化.与La3Ga5SiO14晶体相比，Ca3NbGa3Si2O14晶体具有更优良的压电性能，其压电常数 d11=7.93×10-12C/N，d14=-5.88×10-12C/N. 关键词： Ca3NbGa3Si2O14晶体 介电常数 压电常数     

掺镁铌酸锂亚微米结构畴反转的研究

研究了掺镁铌酸锂(MgO：LiNbO₃)的极化特性及其畴壁运动的性质,通过调节多个脉冲外加电场来控制畴壁的运动,在背向反转效应作用下,反转畴发生劈裂,制备出均匀的掺镁铌酸锂亚微米周期畴结构,并分析探讨了掺镁铌酸锂亚微米结构的成因及其反转机理. 关键词： 亚微米畴结构 掺镁铌酸锂 背向反转     

Temperature characteristics of a Y-cut Z-propagation LiNbO3 light modulator for application to polarimeters

The temperature characteristics of a Y-cut Z-propagation LiNbO₃ crystal light modulator, with manufacturing errors, in the absence and presence of an electric field have been investigated by analyses and experiments. According to our analyses, when the Z-axis of the LiNbO₃ crystal is at an angle of 0.22° with respect to the normal of the input surface of the crystal, we found the theoretical fluctuation of the normalized output-light intensity with temperature to be less than 7:75 × 10⁻⁶/°C. This magnitude is less than 1% of the theoretical intensity fluctuation of a conventional temperature-compensation LiNbO₃ light modulator. The measured temperature characteristics of a prototype of this modulator were 2 × 10⁻⁴/°C in the absence of an electric field (OFF state) and 2:8 × 10⁻⁴/°C in the presence of an external field (ON state). During a running test of longer than 8 hours at room temperature, the intensity fluctuation of this prototype was 0.01% in the OFF state, and 0.07% in the ON state.     

Optical waveguides in LiNbO<Subscript>3</Subscript> and stoichiometric LiNbO<Subscript>3</Subscript> crystals by proton exchange

The formation of optical planar waveguides in LiNbO₃ and stoichiometric LiNbO₃ crystals by proton exchange was reported. The prism-coupling method was used to characterize the dark-line spectroscopy at the wavelength of 633 and 1539 nm, respectively. The mode optical near-field outputs from proton-exchanged LiNbO₃ and SLN waveguides at 633 nm were presented. The mode field from stoichiometric LiNbO₃ (SLN) waveguide is lighter and more uniform than that from LiNbO₃ waveguide, which means the quality of the waveguide in SLN crystal is better than that of the LiNbO₃ waveguide. For proton-exchanged LiNbO₃ waveguides, the evolution of the refractive index profile with annealing was presented. The disorder profiles of Nb atoms in proton-exchanged LiNbO₃ waveguides were obtained by Rutherford backscattering/channeling technique. It is shown that the longer the exchange time, the larger the displacement of Nb atoms. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10475052) and the Scientific Research Start-up Financing of Qufu Normal University     

Optimum acoustic wave second-harmonic generation in piezoelectric semiconductors

The phenomenological approach has been used to study analytically the acoustic wave second harmonic generation in piezoelectric semiconductors in the presence of the d.c. electric and an oscillating electromagnetic field (OEF). It has been suggested that the second harmonic acoustic flux (SHAF) can be enhanced considerably by the application of an OEF polarized in the direction of the propagating acoustic wave. The SHAF exhibits a maximum at Ω = ω, where Ω is the frequency of the OEF and ω is the frequency of the acoustic wave. The SHAF also shows a maximum at d.c. electric fields for which the average drift velocity of the carriers is equal to the velocity of sound. It is found that for a typical case of n-type nondegenerate InSb (77°K, n = 2·5 × 10¹⁴ cm^?3) that the SHAF is enhanced by a factor of 10³ over its value in the absence of OEF. The present analysis is valid in the low frequency region only (i.e. ql ? 1).     

Surface acoustic wave distribution and acousto-optic interaction in proton exchanged LiNbO3 waveguides

The efficiency of acoustooptic (AO) interaction in YZ-cut proton exchanged (PE) LiNbO₃ waveguides is theoretically analysed by determining the overlap between the optical and acoustic field distributions. The present analysis takes into account the perturbed SAW field distribution due to the presence of the PE layer on the LiNbO₃ substrate determined by the rigorous layered medium approach. The overlap is found to be significant upto very high acoustic frequencies of the order of 5 GHz, whereas in the earlier analysis by vonHelmolt and Schaffer [6] for diffused waveguides, it was shown that the overlap integral rolls down to nearly zero at this high frequency range.     

6 MHz BAW resonators fabricated using new piezoelectric crystals PrCa4O(BO3)3 and NdCa4O(BO3)3

Thickness shear mode Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) resonators with frequency of 6 MHz, were fabricated using monoclinic piezoelectric crystals PrCa₄O(BO₃)₃ (PrCOB) and NdCa₄O(BO₃)₃ (NdCOB). Zero temperature coefficient of frequency (TCF) characteristics were achieved over the temperature range of –140 °C to 200 °C for (YXt)–1.5° cut PrCOB and (YXt)15° cut NdCOB, with the turnover temperature at 20 °C. The electromechanical coupling factor k₂₆ and the piezoelectric coefficient d₂₆ were determined to be 30.2% and 15.8 pC/N for PrCOB, 29.0% and 15.1 pC/N for NdCOB resonators, respectively. The temperature independent frequency behavior, large coupling factor, high piezoelectric coefficient, together with noticeable mechanical quality factors (Q > 2,500), make PrCOB and NdCOB crystals good candidates for sensing applications with expanded temperature usage range. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Algorithm for optimization of interdigital transducer in AOTF

The interdigital transducer is an important device element in acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) and the surface acoustic wave (SAW) propagates in lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) as a substrate in interdigital transducer. In the direction of x-cut y propagation in AOTF, the power-flux vector and propagation direction of the surface wave are not collinear, which decrease the RF-to-SAW waveguide coupling efficiency. In this paper, optimal program is proposed, giving the numerical calculation. We know that to improve the coupling efficiency the direction of interdigital transducer should be inclined about 4.5 in AOTF. The experiment shows a satisfactory result.     

Surface acoustic wave device properties of (B, Al)N films on 128° Y-X LiNbO3 substrate

A c-axis orientated aluminium nitride (AlN) film on a 128° Y-X lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) surface acoustic wave (SAW) device which exhibit a large electromechanical coupling coefficient (k²) and a high SAW velocity property, is needed for future communication applications. In this study, a c-axis orientated (B, Al)N film (with 2.6 at.% boron) was deposited on a 128° Y-X LiNbO₃ substrate by a co-sputtering system to further boost SAW device properties. The XRD and TEM results show that the (B, Al)N films show highly aligned columns with the c-axis perpendicular to the substrate. The hardness and Young's modulus of (B, Al)N film on 128° Y-X LiNbO₃ substrates are at least 17% and 7% larger than AlN films, respectively. From the SAW device measurement, the operation frequency characteristic of (B, Al)N film on 128° Y-X LiNbO₃ is higher than pure AlN on it. The SAW velocity also increases as (B, Al)N film thickness increases (at fixed IDT wavelength). Furthermore, the k² of (B, Al)N on the IDT/128° Y-X LiNbO₃ SAW device shows a higher value than AlN on it.     

Full-wave modeling of piezoelectric transducers for SAW acousto-optical interactions

In this paper we present an accurate and efficient numerical method for a rigorous full-wave analysis of interdigital transducers (IDT) for the excitation of surface acoustic waves on the piezoelectric substrate of acousto-optical devices. The problem is formulated in terms of an integral equation that is solved by the method of moments. The transducer input admittance and the power coupling factors to both surface and bulk waves are computed. Numerical results for some configurations of X-Y LiNbO₃ IDT for acousto-optic applications are in very good agreement with measured data. It is pointed out that bulk wave excitation may be a serious limitation in the design of efficient, wide band transducers for acousto-optical devices.     

Material tensor parameters of LiNbO3 relevant for electro- and elasto-optics

The complete set of self-consistent parameters of nominally undoped LiNbO₃ crystals of congruent composition that describe the electro-optic, piezoelectric, elasto-optic, elastic, and dielectric response has been determined by numerically evaluating available measurements. The parameters were determined at room temperature and consist of the low-frequency clamped dielectric constants ε^S _ij, elastic stiffness constants at constant electric field C^E _ijkl, piezoelectric stress coefficients e_ijk, elasto-optic constants at constant electric field p^E _ijkl, and clamped electro-optic coefficients r^S _ijk. It is shown that the complete set is required for calculating the effective electro-optic coefficients and dielectric constants in photorefractive applications of LiNbO₃. Received: 4 January 2002 / Revised version: 1 February 2002 / Published online: 14 March 2002