Propagation and Amplification of Rayleigh Waves and Piezoelectric Leaky Surface Waves in LiNbO3

Velocities and attenuations of piezoelectric leaky surface waves in LiNbO3 are analyzed. As a result, we have found that the effective electromechanical coupling coefficient of the leaky surface wave propagating along the X axis of a 64° rotated Y-cut plane is very large, K2 = 0.113, and the attenuation of this wave, caused by radiation of the energy into the solid, is 0.036 dB/wavelength for a free surface and goes to zero for a metalized surface. Moreover, K2 of the elastic surface wave for a 130° rotated Y-cut, X propagation, is found to be larger than that for a Y cut, Z propagation. The theory is verified experimentally. The theoretical analysis and experiments on amplification are performed for these types of waves. In an experiment utilizing the leaky surface wave, net terminal gain of 13 dB/cm is observed for the interaction between the carrier in 200-Ω cm Si wafer (0.3×3×10 mm), separately mounted on a LiNbO3 surface, and the leaky surface wave. The air gap between the Si wafer and LiNbO3 single crystal is about 0.5 mμ.