Simple measurement method for determining surface acoustic wave velocities

The acoustic wave velocity for the Rayleigh surface mode in piezoelectric material is determined from the measurement of the linearly interpolated phase delay between two surface acoustic wave (SAW) transducers. The phase term due to transduction is calculated and we show that its correction leads to an improvement of the measurement. The method is applied to a Y cut Z propagating lithium niobate single crystal, and two piezoceramics, a modified lead titanate piezoceramic, Pz34, and a lead zirconate titanate, Pz26. A velocity of 3486 m/s is found for lithium niobate which close to results published in literature. The method applied to ceramics gives respectively 2525 m/s and 2113 m/s for Pz34 and Pz26.