Waveguiding Effect in the Gigahertz Frequency Range in Pillar-based Phononic-Crystal Slabs

The waveguiding effect for a phononic-crystal (PnC)-based device operating in the gigahertz (GHz) frequency regime is experimentally demonstrated. To that end, a metallic pillar-based PnC membrane with a PnC band gap in the GHz frequency range is designed, and, based on that, an acoustic waveguide operating in the GHz regime is designed and fabricated. To characterize the fabricated PnC waveguide, a set of focusing interdigital transducers is designed and fabricated, enabling efficient excitation and detection of acoustic signals inside the PnC waveguide. The finite-element method is used to study the acoustic properties of the proposed structures and optimize their design. Experimental evidence supporting the existence of the waveguiding effect in the proposed structure in the GHz frequency regime is provided, showing reasonable agreement with the numerical calculations.