Guided propagation of surface acoustic waves and piezoelectric field enhancement in ZnO/GaAs systems

The characteristics and dispersion of the distinct surface acoustic waves (SAWs) propagating in ZnO/GaAs heterostructures have been studied experimentally and theoretically. Besides the Rayleigh mode, strong Sezawa modes, which propagate confined in the overlayer, arise due to the smaller sound velocity in ZnO than in the substrate. The design parameters of the structure providing the strongest piezoelectric field at a given depth within the layered system for the different modes have been determined. The piezoelectric field of the Rayleigh mode is shown to be more than 10 times stronger at the interface region of the tailored ZnO/GaAs structure than at the surface region of the bulk GaAs, whereas the same comparison for the first Sezawa mode yields a factor of 2. This enhancement, together with the capacity of selecting waves with different piezoelectric and strain field depth profiles, will facilitate the development of SAW-modulated optoelectronic applications in GaAs-based systems. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.

Cinematographic OH-PLIF measurements of two interacting turbulent premixed flames with and without acoustic forcing

This paper describes an experimental investigation into the interactions that occur between two lean turbulent premixed flames stabilised on conical bluff-bodies when they are moved closer together. Cinematographic OH-PLIF measurements were acquired to investigate adjacent flame front interactions as a function of flame separation distance (S). Flame surface density (FSD) and curvature were determined to characterise the unforced flames. Acoustic forcing was then applied to explore the amplitude dependent thermo-acoustic response. Phase-averaged FSD and global heat release measurements in the form of OH * chemiluminescence were obtained for a range of forcing frequencies (f) and amplitudes (A) as a function of S. As the flames were brought closer together the adjacent annular jets were found to merge into a single jet structure. This caused adjacent flame fronts to merge above the wake region between the two flames at a location determined by the jet efflux (flame angle) and S. This region of flame-flame interaction we refer to as 'interacting region'. In the unforced flames, a trend of increasingly negative curvature for decreasing S produced a small net increase in flame surface area via cusp formation. When subjected to acoustic forcing, S-dependent regimes were found in the global heat release response as a function A. The overall trend showed that the occurrence of jet/flame merging reduces the value of A at which non-linear response occurs. In support of previous findings for flames stabilised along shear layers, the phase-averaged FSD showed that the flame dynamics that drive the thermo-acoustic response result from the roll-up of vortices which generate large-scale vortex-flame interactions. Compared with axisymmetric flames, the occurrence of jet merging alters the vortex-flame interactions resulting in an asymmetric contribution to the heat release between the wall and interacting regions. The majority of the heat release was found to occur in the interacting region through the rapid production and destruction of flame surface area. The occurrence of jet merging and large-scale interactions between adjacent flames result in different physical mechanisms that drive the thermo-acoustic response compared with single axisymmetric flames. © 2011.

Film bulk acoustic resonator nanosensors for multi-task sensing

This paper shows that film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) arrays can be very useful sensors either to detect physical parameters such as temperature and pressure directly or to detect bio-chemicals with extremely high sensitivities by incorporating a chemisorption layer or bio-probe molecules. Furthermore, it also shows that surface acoustic wave devices can be integrated with a FBAR sensor array on the same piezoelectric substrate as the microfluidics systems to perform transportation and mixing of biosamples etc. demonstrating the possibility to fabricate integrated lab-on-a-chip detection systems, in which all the actuators and sensors are operated by acoustic wave devices. This makes the detection system simple, low cost and easy to operate and hence has great commercial potential. © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Response probability distribution of built-up vibro-acoustic systems

The vibro-acoustic response of built-up structures, consisting of stiff components with low modal density and flexible components with high modal density, is sensitive to small imperfections in the flexible components. In this paper, the uncertainty of the response is considered by modeling the low modal density master system as deterministic and the high modal density subsystems in a nonparametric stochastic way, i.e., carrying a diffuse wave field, and by subsequently computing the response probability density function. The master system's mean squared response amplitude follows a singular noncentral complex Wishart distribution conditional on the subsystem energies. For a single degree of freedom, this is equivalent to a chi-square or an exponential distribution, depending on the loading conditions. The subsystem energies follow approximately a chi-square distribution when their relative variance is smaller than unity. The results are validated by application to plate structures, and good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations is found. © 2012 Acoustical Society of America.

Microfluidics based on ZnO/nanocrystalline diamond surface acoustic wave devices.

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices with 64 μm wavelength were fabricated on a zinc oxide (ZnO) film deposited on top of an ultra-smooth nanocrystalline diamond (UNCD) layer. The smooth surface of the UNCD film allowed the growth of the ZnO film with excellent c-axis orientation and low surface roughness, suitable for SAW fabrication, and could restrain the wave from significantly dissipating into the substrate. The frequency response of the fabricated devices was characterized and a Rayleigh mode was observed at ∼65.4 MHz. This mode was utilised to demonstrate that the ZnO/UNCD SAW device can be successfully used for microfluidic applications. Streaming, pumping, and jetting using microdroplets of 0.5 and 20 μl were achieved and characterized under different powers applied to the SAW device, focusing more on the jetting behaviors induced by the ZnO SAW.

Acoustic radiation force of a Bessel beam on a porous sphere.

The possibility of using acoustic Bessel beams to produce an axial pulling force on porous particles is examined in an exact manner. The mathematical model utilizes the appropriate partial-wave expansion method in spherical coordinates, while Biot's model is used to describe the wave motion within the poroelastic medium. Of particular interest here is to examine the feasibility of using Bessel beams for (a) acoustic manipulation of fine porous particles and (b) suppression of particle resonances. To verify the viability of the technique, the radiation force and scattering form-function are calculated for aluminum and silica foams at various porosities. Inspection of the results has shown that acoustic manipulation of low porosity (<0.3) spheres is similar to that of solid elastic spheres, but this behavior significantly changes at higher porosities. Results have also shown a strong correlation between the backscattered form-function and the regions of negative radiation force. It has also been observed that the high-order resonances of the particle can be effectively suppressed by choosing the beam conical angle such that the acoustic contribution from that particular mode vanishes. This investigation may be helpful in the development of acoustic tweezers for manipulation of micro-porous drug delivery carrier and contrast agents.

Dual-mode thin film bulk acoustic wave resonators for parallel sensing of temperature and mass loading.

Thin film bulk acoustic wave resonator (FBAR) devices supporting simultaneously multiple resonance modes have been designed for gravimetric sensing. The mechanism for dual-mode generation within a single device has been discussed, and theoretical calculations based on finite element analysis allowed the fabrication of FBARs whose resonance modes have opposite reactions to temperature changes; one of the modes exhibiting a positive frequency shift for a rise of temperature whilst the other mode exhibits a negative shift. Both modes exhibit negative frequency shift for a mass load and hence by monitoring simultaneously both modes it is possible to distinguish whether a change in the resonance frequency is due to a mass load or temperature variation (or a combination of both), avoiding false positive/negative responses in gravimetric sensing without the need of additional reference devices or complex electronics.

Protein functionalized ZnO thin film bulk acoustic resonator as an odorant biosensor

ZnO thin film bulk acoustic resonators (FBARs) with resonant frequency of ∼1.5 GHz have been fabricated to function as an odorant biosensor. Physical adsorption of an odorant binding protein (AaegOBP22 from Aedes aegypti) resulted in frequency down shift. N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET) has been selected as a ligand to the odorant binding protein (OBP). Alternate exposure of the bare FBARs to nitrogen flow with and without DEET vapor did not cause any noticeable frequency change. However, frequency drop was detected when exposing the OBP loaded FBAR sensors to the nitrogen flow containing DEET vapor against nitrogen flow alone (control) and the extent of frequency shift was proportional to the amount of the protein immobilized on the FBAR surface, indicating a linear response to DEET binding. These findings demonstrate the potential of binding protein functionalized FBARs as odorant biosensors. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dual-mode thin film bulk acoustic wave resonators for parallel sensing of temperature and mass loading

Thin film bulk acoustic wave resonator (FBAR) devices supporting simultaneously multiple resonance modes have been designed for gravimetric sensing. The mechanism for dual-mode generation within a single device has been discussed, and theoretical calculations based on finite element analysis allowed the fabrication of FBARs whose resonance modes have opposite reactions to temperature changes; one of the modes exhibiting a positive frequency shift for a rise of temperature whilst the other mode exhibits a negative shift. Both modes exhibit negative frequency shift for a mass load and hence by monitoring simultaneously both modes it is possible to distinguish whether a change in the resonance frequency is due to a mass load or temperature variation (or a combination of both), avoiding false positive/negative responses in gravimetric sensing without the need of additional reference devices or complex electronics. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.