Dispersion Diagram of Trigonal Piezoelectric Phononic Structures with Langasite Inclusions

The dispersion relation of elastic Bloch waves in 1-3 piezoelectric phononic structures (PPnSs) with Langasite (La3Ga5SiO14) inclusions in a polymeric matrix is reported. Langasite presents promising material properties, for instance good temperature behaviour, high piezoelectric coupling, low acoustic loss and high quality factor. Furthermore, Langasite belongs to the point group 32 and has a trigonal structure. Thus, the 2-D bulk wave propagation in periodic systems with Langasite inclusions cannot be decoupled into XY and Z modes. The improved plane wave expansion (IPWE) is used to obtain the dispersion diagram of the bulk Bloch waves in 1-3 PPnSs considering the classical elasticity theory and D3 symmetry. Full band gaps are obtained for a broad range of frequency. The piezoelectricity enhances significantly the band gap widths and opens up a narrow band gap in lower frequencies for a filling fraction of 0.5. This study should be useful for surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter and 1-3 piezocomposite transducer design using PPnSs with Langasite.

Correlation of Electrical Properties and Acoustic Loss in Single Crystalline Lithium Niobate-Tantalate Solid Solutions at Elevated Temperatures

Electrical conductivity and acoustic loss Q−1 of single crystalline Li(Nb,Ta)O3 solid solutions (LNT) are studied as a function of temperature by means of impedance spectroscopy and resonant piezoelectric spectroscopy, respectively. For this purpose, bulk acoustic wave resonators with two different Nb/Ta ratios are investigated. The obtained results are compared to those previously reported for congruent LiNbO3. The temperature dependent electrical conductivity of LNT and LiNbO3 show similar behavior in air at high temperatures from 400 to 700 °C. Therefore, it is concluded that the dominant transport mechanism in LNT is the same as in LN, which is the Li transport via Li vacancies. Further, it is shown that losses in LNT strongly increase above about 500 °C, which is interpreted to originate from conductivity-related relaxation mechanism. Finally, it is shown that LNT bulk acoustic resonators exhibit significantly lower loss, comparing to that of LiNbO3.