Optical Studies of Surface Wave Refractive and Reflective Device Structures

In this paper we report the results of an investigation of the propagation of ultrasonic surface waves In "Y"-cut lithium niobate crystals which have geometrically shaped thin gold film structures similar to optical prisms placed in the propagation path of the sound wave. The method of investigation using a pulsed argon laser is a variation of the CW laser optical spatial filter imaging technique recently developed here for optically recording the propagation paths of surface ultrasonic waves in piezoelectric and non-piezoelectric media.