PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF VITREOUS SILICA IN HIGH-FREQUENCY ULTRASONIC AND ACOUSTO-OPTICAL DEVICES

Abstract

The usefulness of vitreous silica in a variety of high‐frequency ultrasonic and acousto‐optical devices is often limited by the acoustic properties of the material. The purpose of this Letter is to report recent findings on (1) the acoustic loss‐vs‐frequency dependence for shear waves in vitreous silica and (2) the magnitude of the fluctuation in the shear wave phase velocity. Information on the shear wave propagation characteristics is most important for ultrasonic delay line applications for which the shear mode of propagation is predominantley used.