Low attenuation of GHz Rayleigh-like surface acoustic waves in ZnO/GaAs systems immersed in liquid helium

Low attenuation of Sezawa modes operating at GHz frequencies in ZnO/GaAs systems immersed in liquid helium has been observed. This unexpected behaviour for Rayleigh-like surface acoustic waves (SAWs) is explained in terms of the calculated depth profiles of their acoustic Poynting vectors. This analysis allows reproduction of the experimental dispersion of the attenuation coefficient. In addition, the high attenuation of the Rayleigh mode is compensated by the strengthening provided by the ZnO layer. The introduction of the ZnO film will enable the operation of SAW-driven single-photon sources in GaAs-based systems with the best thermal stability provided by the liquid helium bath. © 2013 American Institute of Physics.

Experimental demonstration of the Rayleigh acoustic viscous boundary layer theory.

Amplitude and phase velocity measurements on the laminar oscillatory viscous boundary layer produced by acoustic waves are presented. The measurements were carried out in acoustic standing waves in air with frequencies of 68.5 and 114.5 Hz using laser Doppler anemometry and particle image velocimetry. The results obtained by these two techniques are in good agreement with the predictions made by the Rayleigh viscous boundary layer theory and confirm the existence of a local maximum of the velocity amplitude and its expected location.

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.

Surface acoustic waves in liquid helium for enhanced single-electron transport applications

High frequency Rayleigh and Sezawa modes propagating in the ZnO/GaAs system capable of operating immersed in liquid helium have been engineered. In the case of the Rayleigh mode, the strong attenuation produced by the liquid is counteracted by the strengthening of the mode induced by the ZnO. However, in the case of the Sezawa modes, the attenuation is strongly reduced taking advantage of the depth profile of their acoustic Poynting vectors, that extend deeper into the layered system, reducing the energy radiated into the fluid. Thus, both tailored modes will be suitable for acoustically-driven single-electron and single-photon devices in ZnO-coated GaAs-based systems with the best thermal stability provided by the liquid helium bath. © 2012 IEEE.

Surface-waves, stability, and scattering for a lined duct with flow

We consider a straight cylindrical duct with a steady subsonic axial flow and a reacting boundary (e.g. an acoustic lining). The wave modes are separated into ordinary acoustic duct modes, and surface modes confined to a small neighbourhood of the boundary. Many researchers have used a mass-spring-damper boundary model, for which one surface mode has previously been identified as a convective instability; however, we show the stability analysis used in such cases to be questionable. We investigate instead the stability of the surface modes using the Briggs-Bers criterion for a Flügge thin-shell boundary model. For modest frequencies and wavenumbers the thin-shell has an impedance which is effectively that of a mass-spring-damper, although for the large wavenumbers needed for the stability analysis the thin-shell and mass-spring-damper impedances diverge, owing to the thin shell's bending stiffness. The thin shell model may therefore be viewed as a regularization of the mass-spring-damper model which accounts for nonlocally-reacting effects. We find all modes to be stable for realistic thin-shell parameters, while absolute instabilities are demonstrated for extremely thin boundary thicknesses. The limit of vanishing bending stiffness is found to be a singular limit, yielding absolute instabilities of arbitrarily large temporal growth rate. We propose that the problems with previous stability analyses are due to the neglect of something akin to bending stiffness in the boundary model. Our conclusion is that the surface mode previously identified as a convective instability may well be stable in reality. Finally, inspired by Rienstra's recent analysis, we investigate the scattering of an acoustic mode as it encounters a sudden change from a hard-wall to a thin-shell boundary, using a Wiener-Hopf technique. The thin-shell is considered to be clamped to the hard-wall. The acoustic mode is found to scatter into transmitted and reflected acoustic modes, and surface modes strongly linked to the solid waves in the boundary, although no longitudinal or transverse waves within the boundary are excited. Examples are provided that demonstrate total transmission, total reflection, and a combination of the two. This thin-shell scattering problem is preferable to the mass-spring-damper scattering problem presented by Rienstra, since the thin-shell problem is fully determined and does not need to appeal to a Kutta-like condition or the inclusion of an instability in order to avoid a surface-streamline cusp at the boundary change.

ZnO films for surface acoustic wave microfluidic devices

SAW devices were fabricated on c-axis oriented ZnO films grown on Si substrates. Effects of film thickness on the film microstructure and acoustic frequencies were studied. Both Rayleigh and Sezawa mode waves were detected on the devices, and their resonant frequencies were found to decrease with increase in film thickness.

ZnO films for surface acoustic wave microfluidic devices

SAW devices were fabricated on c-axis oriented ZnO films grown on Si substrates. Effects of film thickness on the film microstructure and acoustic frequencies were studied. Both Rayleigh and Sezawa mode waves were detected on the devices, and their resonant frequencies were found to decrease with increase in film thickness.