The power flow angle of acoustic waves in thin piezoelectric plates

The curves of slowness and power flow angle (PFA) of quasi-antisymmetric (A
₀
) and quasi-symmetric (S
₀
) Lamb waves as well as quasi-shear-horizontal (SH
₀
) acoustic waves in thin plates of lithium niobate and potassium niobate of X-,Y-, and Z-cuts for various propagation directions and the influence of electrical shorting of one plate surface on these curves and PFA have been theoretically investigated. It has been found that the group velocity of such waves does not coincide with the phase velocity for the most directions of propagation. It has been also shown that S
₀
and SH
₀
wave are characterized by record high values of PFA and its change due to electrical shorting of the plate surface in comparison with surface and bulk acoustic waves in the same material. The most interesting results have been verified by experiment. As a whole, the results obtained may be useful for development of various devices for signal processing, for example, electrically controlled acoustic switchers.